'We're all in this together': N.S. pilot draws flight path in honour of missing fishermen

A Nova Scotia pilot with a special talenthas taken to the skies once again this time to show support for the families of missing fishermen in the Bay of Fundy.

"I wanted to send a message to the communities and especially the familiesthat we're all in this together,"said Dimitri Neonakis, apilot from Dartmouth who has been drawing special flight paths in light of the tragedies Nova Scotia has experienced this year.

This week,Neonakis flew over Digby and Yarmouth in honour of the crewmen who went missing aboard the Chief William Saulisin Delaps Coveon Tuesday.

He drew what he titled "The Heavy Heart" a heart weighed down by an anchor.

The same day the scallop draggersent out an emergency beacon, one body was recovered now confirmed by his family to be that of Michael Drake.

The rest of the crew Aaron Cogswell, Leonard Gabriel, Dan Forbes, Eugene Francis and Charles Roberts, the vessel's captain have still not been found.

The RCMP is continuing to search for five missing men today.

"It has been tough, but I try to stay positive, send out positive messages through the air because I believe that positivity and support of each other, we can get through the toughest of the tough," Neonakis said.

Neonakis said he worked with some people in Yarmouth and Digby to plan the flight path, while also helping promote a GoFundMe page for the families of the fishermen.

As of Sunday afternoon, more than $27,000 has been raised for the families.

How it all started

Neonakis started designing these flight paths in April, after 22 people died in Canada's worst mass killing in recent history.

He simply flew a heart over the area of Portapique, N.S., to express his condolences to the community where the killing started.

"I wanted to tell them that I think of them, but there was no way I could do it. I wanted to be there. You can't do it, so my only avenue was through the air," he said at the time.

Neonakis has since drawn about 15 different patterns in Nova Scotia skies.

In May, he took to the sky several times in hopes thatthree-year-old Dylan Elher who went missing in Trurowould be found, in memory of Nova Scotia-born Capt. Jenn Casey who died after the jet she was in crashed, and in memory of the aircrew of the HMCS Fredericton, who died when their helicopter crashed in the Mediterranean Sea.

"I read the comments from thousands of people and I see that it brings some comfortto people and hope in times of a pandemic where we cannot be together," he said.

Neonakis said he enjoys creating these flight paths buthopes he'll get the opportunity to start drawing happy moments in time.

"I don't want to be up there drawing flight paths for someone we lost," he said.

"I hope this last one will be the last one. That's all I hope for."