Family and friends of Art Paetkau said he was one of two men killed in a plane crash near Brunkild, Man.
Art’s brother Albert confirmed the 60-year-old man’s death to CTV News.
Paetkau is the registered owner of a plane with the tail markings seen on the wreckage of the small aircraft.
Headingley RCMP confirmed Friday that two Winkler men died in the crash, a 60-year-old and a 41-year-old.
Police said they were dispatched when a plane destined for Winkler was overdue. Police said the plane left the St. Andrews Airport just after 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
Search and rescue teams from the RCMP and the Canadian Armed Forces searched for the Cesna 185 plane, but weather conditions were poor and visibility was low. Snowmobiles also aided in the search.
The plane was eventually found crashed near Brunkild off Provincial Road 305 just after 1:00 a.m. Friday.
Friends said Art owned Arty’s Air Service. According to the business’s website, it specialized in crop spraying.
The site said Paetkau started his business in 1979 and has been a pilot in the agricultural field for more than 25 years.
Jake Rempel owns an electrical shop near Arty’s Air Service. He said he knows both men who died in the crash.
Rempel said Paetkau has been a pilot as long as he's known him. He was surprised and saddened to hear Paetkau and a 41-year-old man died in the crash.
"Now I have two funerals to go," Rempel said.
Rempel said he used to be neighbours with Paetkau and called him a friendly man.
"Everybody knew him as Arty. Not Art, but Arty."
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has deployed a team of investigators to the site of the crash.
Earlier reports from the TSB were that the crash killed three people.
Brunkild is about 50 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.
