On Saturday May 23, 2015 at approximately 9:30 pm, Lac du Bonnet RCMP received a call regarding an overdue float plane.
Float plane found upside down in Bushey Lake, northeast of Bissett, Manitoba.
Police say that three males flew out of Lac du Bonnet at 8am the same morning morning, heading for the remote lakes northeast of Bissett, Manitoba. The trio planned to return to Lac du Bonnet around 6pm the same day. When the trio had not returned by 9:27pm, a call was made to the RCMP advising of the overdue aircraft.
Manitoba Conservation were a tremendous help from the onset of the call to service. CFB Trenton were contacted and they initiated a search at approximately 4am on Sunday. At approximately 5:30am a Hercules air search located the float plane upside down in Bushey Lake, northeast of Bissett, in the Powerview RCMP Detachment Area.
RCMP report that three people could be seen on the shore, warming themselves around a small camp fire. The Hercules aircraft hovered above the location until approximately 9am, at which time a float plane from Bluewater Aviation in Bissett, chartered by CFB Trenton, was able to recover all three males. The missing males were found safe on the shore, suffering from mild hypothermia and were then flown back to Bissett where a Manitoba Conservation Officer safely picked them up.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada and Air Traffic Control were notified and are currently investigating.
