Missing Pilot found.

A missing pilot who took off from City Centre Airport and never returned has been found dead.

The pilot, and lone occupant of the single-propeller Beechcraft Bonanza plane, was found inside the wreckage about 4:30 p.m. yesterday.

"The pilot was found without vital signs," said Lieut. Annie Morin, spokesman for 8 Wing Trenton.

LOCATED IN CASTOR

The plane was found in Castor, about 243 southeast of Edmonton, by a search and rescue crew.

It left the City Centre Airport Monday around noon for a quick flight.

By 6 p.m., when the pilot had not returned at his scheduled time, the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre at CFB Trenton launched a search.

A Hercules aircraft from Winnipeg joined the effort and combed the Drumheller area, the plane's last known position, overnight.

Crew members aboard the Hercules spotted the wreckage outside Drumheller.

CIVIL AIR SEARCH

The Civil Air Search and Rescue Association of Alberta also joined the hunt.

"They're civilians and they do search and rescue as well," Morin said.

"At this point, they have three aircraft searching."

No ground search was launched as the aircraft flew overhead.

"It starts with the air and after that, if the Hercules found anything, we have search and rescue technicians who jump out of the aircraft and access the site," Morin said.

ALYSSA.NOEL@SUNMEDIA.CA

-- With files from Michelle Thompson