Working To Confirm ID; Chicago PD Divers To Raise Plane
The Chicago Police Department reports that it raised a body that
is believed to be the pilot of the Legend Cub LSA from the waters
of Lake Michigan at about 5 PM CDT Wednesday. The body was on the
lakebed, about thirty feet deep, and only fifty feet from the
submerged Cub. The craft was about four miles off Chicago's South
Side.
As Aero-News previously
reported, the pilot, believed to be 63, was
injured in an otherwise successful ditching in the cold waters. He
exited the plane with a passenger, a 49-year-old Texas man, but the
pilot was unable to stay afloat until rescue came. The passenger,
who was trying to swim ashore, was rescued by the Coast Guard
Auxiliary. He was treated and released at a Chicago hospital.
The Chicago Tribune, which attended the Police Department's
press conference, credited the find to Chicago Police Marine Unit
divers, who centered a search pattern on a location plotted based
on FAA radar data secured from Chicago area air traffic control
resources. The divers then used an advanced sonar to find and
identify the aircraft.
The airplane had departed Oshkosh and was headed across the lake
to Gary, Indiana. The trans-lake flight is common among GA pilots,
both to save time and to avoid complex Chicago airspace. Gary was
an intended refueling stop; the final destination of the flight was
in Ohio.
In a macabre twist to the story, the police got a second
body-in-the-water call as the divers were bringing the pilot's
remains ashore, and they diverted to that scene to recover the body
of a woman. Who she was and how she came to be in the water is
unknown at this time, but she wasn't on the aircraft.
Today, the divers expect to raise the aircraft from its resting
place on the lakebed. This will serve the dual purposes of
assisting the investigation, and preventing the airplane's fluids
from contaminating the lake.
According to the FAA, the aircraft was N848LC, an American
Legend Company Legend Cub light sport aircraft. The accident will
be investigated by the West Chicago FSDO and the National
Transportation Safety Board.
Other Chicago media report that the Coast Guard assisted the
police in the body recovery. The body had not been formally
identified as the pilot's by press time; police are withholding the
name of the pilot until both identification and family notification
are complete.
The management and staff of Aero-News would like to express our
condolences to the family and friends of the pilot, and our thanks
and respect to the Coast Guard, Coast Guard Auxiliary, and the
Chicago Police Marine Unit.
ANN's Daily Aero-Term (05.10.24): Takeoff Roll
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