The plane was located just after midnight on Saturday morning about 200 metres off shore in the northwest portion of Beaverhill Lake, near the town of Tofield.
Lawrence Lau, the accountable executive at Cooking Lake Aviation, said his staff and students are reeling. "Ultimately, the flight school is committed to giving support to the families involved as much as possible … we're all so heartbroken by what has happened." The field investigation at the crash site, about 75 kilometres east of Edmonton, was completed Sunday, the agency said.
"Any time that we are at an accident site that involves water, it makes things complex for sure, not only in getting to the accident site safely, but also the equipment that's used to recover it without doing unnecessary damage to the aircraft."