Fatal plane crash: Sudbury residents waiting for answers

Morning North3:35Plane owner's friends still looking for answer after plane crash

Friends of a Leo Arseneau are waiting for police confirmation about who was on board his plane when it crashed this week. He was a regular customer at Gus's Restaurant in Sudbury. Owner Tina Pontikakos has known him for over a decade.

The people who know the owner of the small plane that crashed crash south of Sudbury this week are trying to piece together what happened.

On Tuesday, a plane registered to Leo Arseneau’s company was scheduled to fly from Sudbury to North Carolina.

Less than an hour into the flight, the plane reported engine problems and crashed in French River Provincial Park.

OPP said the names of the three victims will not be released until the postmortem examination is complete.

In the meantime, friends of Arseneau are waiting for answers.

'You don't know what to say'

At Gus’s Restaurant in Sudbury, photographs line the walls. One of them, dated 1996, features four men with golf clubs.

Pictured among them is Arseneau, a Sudbury lawyer and a pilot, and a faithful customer at the restaurant.

Owner Tina Pontikakos said the last time she saw Arseneau was on Friday afternoon.

“He had lunch here by himself and we were talking,” she said.

Pontikakos said Arseneau mentioned he was taking a trip, but she didn’t ask where. She added he always used his plane for long distances.

She said when she heard a plane had crashed south of Sudbury, she cried and said lunch time hasn’t been the same since.

“Everything was very sad,” she said. “You don’t know what to say.”

Even though there’s no confirmation of the identities of the deceased in this crash, Arseneau's colleague, Richard Pharand, said he believes he has lost a friend.

“It’s bothering me. I’m thinking about it all the time. Most people are.”

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.