Dive teams from the OPP are currently at Wolf Lake in Ontario’s Kawartha area following the discovery of debris from a missing plane that left Oshawa Executive Airport on Friday morning, with no sign of the pilot yet.
This search has shifted to a recovery and investigation operation after crews found wreckage from a small blue-and-yellow single-seat home-built aircraft in the lake, situated in Queen Elizabeth II Provincial Park north of Lindsay.
The pilot, 73-year-old David Douglas, is still unaccounted for.
Durham Regional Police have identified the missing individual as an experienced pilot who typically flies around areas south of Kawartha Lakes and north of Lake Scugog.
Police indicate that Douglas took off from Oshawa at 8:30 a. m. on Friday and was expected back about an hour later but did not arrive.
Douglas was last seen near Balsam Lake, which led to calls for public assistance and a coordinated search over the weekend.
The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Trenton (JRCC), a round-the-clock military and civilian operations hub at CFB Trenton staffed by members of the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Canadian Coast Guard for air and marine search and rescue coordination, spearheaded the search efforts, assisted by various agencies and private aircraft.
Rescue operations focused on the Kawartha Lakes region near Balsam Lake using an RSCU603 Super Hercules turbo prop along with other rescue aircraft before discovering the wreckage in Wolfe Lake.
It appears that the aircraft lacked an active transponder signal, which made it impossible to track digitally. This forced emergency teams to depend on eyewitness reports and radar reconstructions.
The Ontario Provincial Police now lead the investigation with assistance from Kawartha Lakes OPP working alongside JRCC.
This situation is being treated as a missing person case, with search units continuing their efforts to locate the pilot.
Douglas is described as being 5-foot-7 with a slim frame, black-and-grey hair, and a moustache.
If anyone has information about the missing pilot, they’re encouraged to reach out to their local police or contact OPP directly.
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