19 WING COMOX – An aircraft reported overdue for more than 24 hours was located last night by a CC-115 Buffalo aircraft from 442 Squadron, out of 19 Wing Comox, approximately 35 kilometers south of Dease Lake, BC.

The pilot had filed a flight itinerary with his son indicating that he was planning to fly from a location close to 108 Mile to Swan Lake near the BC/Yukon border. After the pilot’s son had not heard back from his father 24 hours past his estimated arrival time, the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Victoria was alerted to initiate a search.

A CC-115 Buffalo, a CH-149 Cormorant from 19 Wing Comox and volunteers from the Civil Aviation Search and Rescue Association in Prince George were tasked to retrace the pilot’s flight path. JRCC was able to determine that the pilot had last been seen on Lake Takla which significantly reduced the search area.

At around 10 p.m., members of the Buffalo crew visually identified a small camp fire on the border of a lake just off the pilot’s flight path and decided to investigate. As they got closer, the fire grew in intensity and started to produce more smoke. The pilot had been found. He had stop along his route to refuel but mechanical problems kept him from taking off again.

The search crew dropped the pilot a hand held radio to communicate. “The pilot was clearly ready to handle an emergency,” said Captain John Edwards, Buffalo Aircraft Commander. “Once he determined that he would not be able to take off again, he tied his plane to the shore, put up a tent that he had with him and started a fire. He also had a rifle in his possession since, as he told us, a bear had been roaming the area. The pilot was prepared to face this incident and had all the necessary tools to wait for our arrival.”

The Buffalo crew dropped the pilot additional food. Because the pilot did not sustained any injury and he was fit to stay the night, the search crew were sent back to Comox and a repair crew will meet the pilot to fix the aircraft today.

“The pilot did many right things during this incident,” said Captain Greg Clarke, Air Controller at JRCC, “but if it was to happen again, I would recommend to the pilot to file a more detailed flight itinerary and to utilize his Electronic Locator Transmitter which would have accelerated the start of the search and greatly reduced the time to locate him.”