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.

FMI: www.cityofchicago.org/police