Icelandic Tourist Airplane Found in Lake East Of Reykjavik

The aircraft, flown by Haraldur Diego, 49, departed from Reykjavik City Airport (BIRK) around noon on February 3 on a two-hour sightseeing tour. According to the Associated Press, Diego made contact with aviation authorities about an hour after take off and no distress signal was made during the flight.

Diego, who was the president of Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association-Iceland, was considered a pioneer of Icelandic photography tours and was one of the Nordic country's most prominent pilots, the AP said.

Also on board, according to several reports, were three passengers—tourists from the U.S., the Netherlands and Belgium. One of the passengers is believed to be a 27-year-old Dutch man who lived in Belgium, Reuters reported.

Early Friday morning, AOPA-Iceland announced "Týnd flugvé," or lost plane, on its Facebook page, followed by a map indicating the flight path of an aircraft scouring the area where Diego's airplane went missing.

More than 1,000 searchers responded amid periods of severe winter conditions. Search teams included about 800 crew members of Iceland's emergency rescue organization Slysavarnafélagið Landsbjörg, the Icelandic Coast Guard's helicopter squadron and special operations squad, the National Commissioner of Police's Civil Protection Department, local police , and others, according to the Icelandic Coast Guard.

On Friday evening at about 11 p.m., searchers using a remote-controlled submarine located the aircraft wreckage in Lake Thingvallavatn, Icelandic Coast Guard confirmed.

The airplane was found in a portion of the lake that was about 30 miles from Reykjavik, AP reported.

As president of AOPA-Iceland, Diego was a champion for the freedoms offered by general aviation in a country known for its dramatic rugged landscapes and vast, sprawling wilderness.

"The world does look very different from the air," Diego said in an online flying and photography guide.

Diego first became interested in flying when he was 19 years old during a theme day in high school, he told Icelandic aviation site Flugblogg several years ago. He received his private pilot certificate at a California flight school in the early 1990s and received an Icelandic pilot certificare in 1998.

"There are not many that can fly a plane, or have the possibility of being able to see what you get to see on a regular basis when you can fly," he said. "It is a privilege. And perhaps, especially here, in Iceland."

Diego was an ideal role model and advocate for GA in Iceland, AOPA President Mark Baker told FLYING in a statement.

"We at AOPA U.S. are saddened to learn about the loss of Haraldur Diego and those flying with him," Baker said. 

"I was fortunate to know Haraldur on both a professional and personal level. He was a tireless supporter of general aviation in Iceland and beyond its borders, and an energetic person who threw himself 100 percent into everything he did," Baker said. "He brought tremendous energy to flying and inspired everyone he met. Haraldur will be greatly missed."

Since 1940, there have been at least 50 aircraft accidents reported in Iceland, claiming at least 130 lives, according to the Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives.