RCMP dive teams worked to retrieve the body of a Gimli man Sunday after his plane crashed into Lake Kapekun Saturday.
The 81-year-old pilot left from Gimli for his cabin in the remote wilderness on a float plane around 11 a.m. Saturday. When the person he was to meet at his cabin never saw his plane fly overhead, they called the RCMP.
The Rescue Coordination Centre in Trenton was notified around 11:30 p.m. and sent out a Hercules from the 435 Squadron in Winnipeg. The planes arrived around 2 a.m.
Around 2:30 a.m. Sunday, search and rescue teams spotted part of his plane poking up above the water of Lake Kapekun. The plane was floating upside down in the lake, officials from the Trenton rescue centre said.
Teams immediately got into the water and found the man dead inside the small airplane.
The pilot had over 40 years of flying experience, said friends.
Tammy Alexsson said her family friend Al Graham was the pilot killed.
"He was fiercely independent - always busy, always doing something, never idle," said Alexsson. "Al was a very special kind of guy - very quiet, in the background kind of fellow, but a very important part of a lot of people's lives."
He leaves behind three daughters and a number of grandchildren.
Little Grand Rapids RCMP said there were no other people on the plane.
Officers said the investigation into the plane crash is continuing.
