“It hurts”

The shocking news came in Wallis around 10 a.m. on Saturday. A phone call reported the plane crash by McFit founder Rainer Schaller (53) off the coast of Costa Rica. In the cockpit was a Wallis (66). “It hurts enormously,” the pilot’s son-in-law told “La Nouvelliste”.

“He was an excellent pilot, undoubtedly passionate and extra careful,” he adds. Pierre-Olivier Favre, a Valais pilot and close friend, recalls: “It was he who taught me to fly in the eighties at the Sion Aero Club. Everywhere he went, he made a good impression.”

The problem of distance

There were six people on board the machine at the time of Friday night’s accident: McFit founder Schaller, his partner, the two children, another German and the Swiss pilot. So far, two bodies have been found. There is still no trace of Wallis. About 60 emergency services are on duty. The family wants clarity – also for administrative reasons.

“There is no death certificate without a body. The distance brings with it some uncertainties about the course of the funeral service’, the son-in-law regrets. But he assures that “the funeral service will certainly take place”.

investigations are underway

The plane lost contact with the control center in Costa Rica around 6 p.m. Friday. The investigation into the cause of the crash is underway. Since the private plane had neither a flight recorder nor a device to record the communications, this process proved extremely difficult.

According to various reports, McFit founder Schaller was using WhatsApp shortly before the crash. Curious: Cell phones normally don’t have cruising altitude reception. One possible explanation could be that his phone was not in airplane mode and receiving reception when the crash occurred. (nab)