UPDATE: Searchers find wreckage of missing plane

UPDATE: Searchers find wreckage of missing plane

CORNWALL, Ontario – The debris field of an aircraft missing in the Midland, Ontario area has been found on the shores of Georgian Bay.

The aircraft had taken off from Cornwall Thursday.

Reports to the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Trenton led search crews to the Nottawasaga Bay area on Sprat Point where they confirmed the debris belonged to the missing aircraft. Search coordinators are in the process of handing the case over to the OPP. 

The aircraft, a Cessna 182, had been reported missing Thursday when it failed to arrive in Owen Sound. Weather at the time of the flight was poor.

A lone male pilot was at the controls of the plane.

Frank Prevost, chair of the Cornwall Regional Airport Commission, said in an interview the pilot is believed to be from Owen Sound.

“It’s my knowledge he never even got out of the plane when he landed here,” said Prevost.

The pilot left Cornwall at 5:10 p.m. and was to arrive at the Billy Bishop airport around 8 p.m.

Search efforts were led by the Royal Canadian Air Force supported by the Canadian Coast Guard, OPP ground and water units as well as volunteers with the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association and Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary. 

The missing aircraft had an Electronic Locator Transmitter of the 121.5 Mhz variety that was not detected in the crash. It left Cornwall at 5:10 pm local time and was scheduled to arrive in Owen Sound at 7:55 pm local time. At 8:35 p.m. on Thursday Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Trenton received a report from the Flight Information Centre in London, Ontario that the aircraft was overdue. 

In Canada, SAR is a coordinated response bringing all possible assets to bear to save the lives of people lost or injured, often in remote and dangerous locations. While the Canadian Armed Forces, with the Canadian Coast Guard, coordinates the overall response, it is not necessarily the primary responder to a SAR event – air and marine resources can come from a spectrum of government and volunteer organizations.

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