Plane crash victim identified by flying club

A Winnipeg man who shared his passion for flying through his YouTube channel has been identified as the sole victim of a plane crash.

Peter Toth, who had recently earned his pilot’s licence, was confirmed as the victim in the weekend crash by his flying club.

“It is with great sadness that we learned today of the passing of one our most active chapter 63 members,” read a post on the Experimental Aircraft Association Winnipeg Chapter 63 Facebook page.

“Peter Toth loved working on our Emeraude and on his Challenger II, and more recently flying his Challenger. He had only recently received his pilot licence, and continued his training by getting his seaplane rating. Let’s remember him by this photo, Peter flying his Quad City Challenger II, doing what he loved.

“Blue skies, and tailwinds, my friend.”

Toth’s privately registered Quad City Challenger II ultralight aircraft crashed in a field about 20 kilometres east of Winnipeg in the Rural Municipality of Springfield, the Canada’s Transportation Safety Board said Sunday.

The aircraft collided with terrain in a field near Dugald at approximately 10:50 a.m., the federal agency said.

It dispatched two investigators to the area on Sunday. The pilot was the sole occupant onboard the two-seater plane, they said.

A Manitoba RCMP spokesperson said Oakbank RCMP responded to the crash at around 11 a.m. on Saturday.

Toth’s YouTube page said he acquired his licence in 2024, but had loved flying long before that and enjoyed tinkering with his aircraft.

“Join me as I rebuild and upgrade a Challenger II, and learn to fly,” the description of his account said. “Yes, I got the airplane before I got my pilot’s licence. I consider it motivation to finally realize a lifelong dream of flying. Adventures await in 2024, as this is the year I take flight as a licensed pilot, in my airplane, and start to explore.”

This story first appeared in the July 28 edition of the Winnipeg Free Press.