As of April 15, more than 350 hours of air search time have been devoted to the mission
Saturday marks the ninth day since two men and their plane disappeared about 60 kilometers north of Sault.
The combined efforts between the OPP, the Coast Guard, the MNR, civilian assets and the Air Force have not yet led to the successful identification of the missing aircraft.
Meteorological conditions have significantly complicated the search.
The forecast improved significantly yesterday as search and rescue teams took advantage of the sunlight and invested more than 50 hours of combined air search time in just one day.
The weather was not so good today.
Three planes managed to take off this morning, but struggled with lower clouds and fresh snow on the ground, which did not melt.
Their search remains focused on the last known location of the aircraft, its flight path and other areas of interest gathered by the council.
As of April 15, more than 350 hours of air search time have been devoted to the mission.
Captain Chris Dubet, a public service officer for the local task force, said the civilian air search and rescue team was incredibly helpful and they were using new technology to support their efforts.
“They’re all volunteer hours,” says Dube. “They are out all day, away from their families, spilling images, trying to find areas of interest or indications of broken branches. We can’t thank them enough for their efforts. “
Civil Air Search has a GoPro mounted on the underside of their aircraft that can sort a significant amount of data and narrow areas of interest through advanced imaging software.
The Joint Rescue Coordination Center outside of Trenton will continue to post search updates on its Twitter account @JRCCTrentCCCOS.
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