A pilot who went missing on Friday has been discovered deceased after search teams located his small aircraft submerged in the Kawartha Lakes region this week, according to the Ontario Provincial Police. The OPP revealed in a press release on Wednesday that wreckage from the aircraft was recovered from Wolfe Lake in Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands Provincial Park, situated northwest of Peterborough, Ontario, on Monday. Subsequently, the aircraft itself was found underwater in the lake on Tuesday.
Authorities have confirmed that the pilot, known as David and aged 73, was found deceased. Plans are underway to retrieve the plane, as per the police statement. David was reported missing when he did not return to Oshawa Executive Airport on Friday morning. He had departed the airport in a self-built plane at 8:30 a.m. with an expected return time of 9:30 a.m., as per information from Durham Regional Police. The last sighting of him was in the Balsam Lake vicinity near Kirkfield.
Family members reported the pilot missing, and a comprehensive search was conducted by the Trenton Joint Rescue Coordination Centre, in collaboration with the OPP, members of the City of Kawartha Lakes detachment, and other involved agencies. The Ministry of Natural Resources of Ontario assisted in locating both the aircraft and the pilot.
The OPP expressed condolences to the pilot’s family and appreciated the public’s contributions to the search efforts. The circumstances surrounding the incident are being probed by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB), which investigates various incidents in the air, marine, pipeline, and rail sectors. The TSB has deployed a team of investigators to look into the accident involving the privately registered small plane near Minden Hills, Ontario.
Durham police had identified the pilot by his first name only and mentioned that he was a seasoned pilot who typically flew in the area south of the municipality of Kawartha Lakes and north of Lake Scugog.
