Published in Midwest Flyer – December 2018/January 2019 issue
For the second time in September 2018, the wreckage of a long-lost float plane has been found in British Columbia without it being the object of a current search. In June of 1987, two men left the southern shore of Shuswap Lake in B.C.’s interior in a Piper Super Cub float plane bound for a remote lake in Wells Gray Provincial Park. They were never heard from again.
Late in September 2018, while searching for the RV6 that went missing on September 11, 2018 on a flight between the Edmonton area and Chilliwack in B.C.’s Upper Fraser Valley, crews spotted the Piper wreckage near Kostal Lake, just south of their destination of McDougall Lake, both within park boundaries.
Pilot Ernie Whitehead, 78, and passenger Len Dykhuizen, 55, left the small lakeside community of Eagle Bay on a fishing expedition. Extensive searches that were undertaken at the time ended with no clues.
Search and Rescue crews have been lowered to the crash site in order to positively identify the aircraft. Next of kin were then tracked down and notified before the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) released the news the week of October 11, 2018. Due to the fast approaching winter conditions, recovery efforts are being put off until spring. “This area is very remote and there are no roads or trails to access the crash site,” said Clearwater RCMP Sgt. Grant Simpson (www.copanational.org).
