Body Found In Remote Lake Near Thunder Bay

Well-known Canadian bush pilot Ron Gibson's body may have been found Friday afternoon, when police and military searcher located a submerged aircraft in a remote lake northeast of Thunder Bay.

"Divers were able to confirm that the submerged plane was the reported overdue float plane, and that the pilot was the lone occupant at the time of the crash," said officials. Police, who did not release the name of the pilot, said there was no one else on board.

The downed plane -- a Cessna 206, according to the Winnipeg Free-Press -- was spotted just before noon Friday. Military divers dropped to the scene after parachuting from a C-130 search aircraft.

Gibson was a legend on the lakes of North and remote areas of Ontario, and was immediately remembered for his Northern hospitality.

"He was a fantastic pilot," Upsala businessman Jeff Prochnicki, a friend of Gibson, told the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal Friday.
"He was semi-retired but, because of his stature, he continued to fly people in (for fishing) because he was a person people could trust."

The soft-spoken Gibson, believed to be in his mid-60s, operated Thousand Lakes Airways on Cushing Lake, a bay of Lac des Mille Lac west of Thunder Bay.

Police and military searchers were notified around 9:30 p.m. Thursday that a float plane had gone down somewhere between Thunder Bay and Armstrong following a report from some hunters about a possible crash.

There was no word Friday as to what caused the plane to hit the water.

Transportation Safety Board of Canada inspectors were to be at the crash scene some time Saturday Oct. 13, added the release.

Friends remembered Gibson as a generous person who liked to share his birds-eye view of the rugged Northwest.

"He came by one time and gave us a ride," recalled Lac des Mille resort owner Angie Legros. "My (ailing) husband was in a wheelchair at the time, so it was a bit of a chore to get him in the plane. But (Gibson) flew us all around the lake, which was a treat for my husband because he was a pilot himself."

Canada's Transporation Safety Board is investigating.

FMI: www.tsb.gc.ca, www.tlafishing.com/index.htm