Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Fort Smith (Sep 01/03) - When a crashed aircraft was recently discovered in Nunavut after being missing for 39 years, it created a flood of emotions for Sonia Trudeau.

She was married to Gavin Edkins when the Fort Smith pilot and his Cessna vanished without a trace seven years ago.

The discovery in Nunavut brought back memories of Edkins' disappearance, but also gave Trudeau hope that the mystery of his disappearance in May, 1996, may one day be solved.

She thinks someone will eventually stumble onto the site where the plane went down.

"I know for some it's ancient history, but there are families out there looking for answers," says Trudeau, who had two children with Edkins. (She has since remarried and has another young daughter.)

She also wonders if some sign of Edkins' plane may be overlooked. After all, the Nunavut crash site had been in the open for 39 years and not spotted. "How could they miss it?"

Trudeau also questions why missing planes cannot be located, given modern technology such as satellite imagery.

"You'd think with the advanced technology they have they would try a little more," she says, adding she would like search officials to take another look.

However, she realizes no search will begin unless some new evidence arises. "I can't see them opening it up and searching for no apparent reason."

Trudeau says there is no closure for herself and her two daughters with Edkins, unlike the families of the victims of the Nunavut crash. Those families have remains to put to rest and answers to give them closure, she notes. "The rest of us have nothing and are still waiting."

The 36-year-old Edkins was flying from Fort Smith to the Red Deer area. Trudeau notes he gassed up in Fort McMurray during the flight, so it was assumed the plane went down somewhere in Alberta.

An intensive search found nothing.

"I felt, and I still do, that they were searching in the wrong place," says Trudeau, who notes Edkins may have changed course to avoid bad weather or even turned around to come back to Fort Smith.

Trudeau says there are various theories about why Edkins and his plane have never been located, including one that he may have gone into a lake and another that the plane crashed in dense forest.

Stan Edkins, the father of Gavin Edkins, says he is realistic and understands that he may never know what happened to his son. "The chances are 50/50 either way."

Edkins, 70, says it would be good if the crash site is found because it would provide closure.

The veteran northern pilot, who is now retired in Carvel, Alberta, says it is hard to say where his son may have gone down. "Oh, God knows. He could be found in the bush 75 miles out of McMurray."

That's about where Gavin Edkins would have hit bad weather right across his flight path. His father notes it was raining so hard that cars and trucks had to pull over on the road.

Edkins' theory is that his son may have crashed in Winnefred Lake, north of Cold Lake. He explains a fisherman once found strands of hair on a hook, and they were the same colour and length as his son's hair.

However, Edkins says he never had the money to hire divers to search the lake and police in the area didn't consider it solid enough evidence to conduct such a search.