Pilot dies in crash into remote Manitoba lake

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This article was published 06/05/2012 (4994 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RCMP have recovered the body of an 81-year-old man who died when his plane crashed into a remote Manitoba lake Saturday.

RCMP D Division spokesman Cpl. Miles Hiebert said Monday morning the body was recovered Sunday at about 5 p.m., and an autopsy will be performed.

Cpt. Jean Houde of CFB Trenton’s Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre outside Trenton, Ont., said a Hercules aircraft was dispatched from Winnipeg around 11 p.m. Saturday after someone reported the man’s plane had not arrived as scheduled. Houde said the pilot left Gimli around 11 a.m. Saturday and planned to fly his private plane to a remote cottage.

Search and rescue crews followed the man’s flight path and saw wreckage submerged in a lake east of Lake Winnipeg, Houde said.

RCMP confirmed the plane went down in Kapekun Lake.

“They found the aircraft upside down in the water around 2 a.m.,” he said.

Two members of the search and rescue team jumped in the water, but found the pilot had not survived, Houde said.

They were forced to camp out on a nearby island for the night. Houde said the lake is in the middle of nowhere, with no roads and no way for a helicopter to land. The two members of the search-and-rescue team are well-trained and will be flown back to Winnipeg Sunday afternoon by float plane, he said.

“There was no way to pick them up,” he said.

RCMP are now handling the incident, as it is a recovery operation, Houde said. RCMP dive teams are en route to Wrong Lake today via float plane to recover the pilot’s body, he said.

Transport Canada has been notified of the crash.