Missing Plane Found Three Decades Later

By Corey Fischer

Oct 10, 2018 | 2:45 PM

Pictured: Len Dykhuizen (left) and Ernie Whitehead

A small plane missing for 31 years has been found by chance, in the BC Interior.

RCMP say the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre was conducting a search for a missing aircraft from Stony Plain, Alberta on September 18th, when they came across another crash site near Kostal Lake in Wells Gray Provincial Park.

Cpl. Dan Moskaluk says the preliminary investigation indicates it’s a missing plane from Salmon Arm.

“The white Piper Super Cub plane left Eagle Bay for a fishing trip to McDougall Lake on June 20, 1987. The plane with two souls on board, pilot Ernie G. Whitehead, 78 yrs old at the time, was accompanied by passenger Len Dykhuizen 55 yrs old. Both men were from Eagle Bay, BC. Extensive searches for this plane had yielded negative results,” says Moskaluk.

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Moskaluk says efforts by RCMP, the BC Coroners Service and local Search and Rescue technicians to fly into the crash site have so far not been successful.

“The search is set to resume in the spring. This area is very remote and there are no roads or trails to access the crash site.”

The families of the two men have been advised of the discovery, says Sgt. Grant Simpson of Clearwater RCMP.

by Corey Fischer