UPDATE: Missing plane & pilot discovered after vanishing over Siskiyou County

October 22, 2021 Trevor Montgomery

UPDATED: Saturday, Oct. 23, 10:35 a.m.

See Original Story and Other Updates Below.

SISKIYOU COUNTY, Calif., — Authorities were saddened to announce the discovery of a small plane that went missing after its pilot put out a distress call requesting an emergency landing while flying over the Trinity County area Wednesday evening, Oct. 20. The aircraft disappeared while traveling from Oregon to California and was later discovered on Bradley Peak in southern Siskiyou County by a citizen who spotted the plane’s wreckage and called 911 to report his discovery.

The pilot and sole-occupant aboard the single-engine 1972 Cessna 150, 71-year-old, William Bushling, of Orland, CA, was confirmed killed in the crash after officials made their way through rugged terrain to the scene of the heavily-forested crash site.

Officials from multiple area law enforcement agencies, Search and Recue teams, and other public safety organizations used off-road vehicles to caravan to the area of the fatal plane crash, before hiking in to the crash site to confirm they had located 71-year-old William Bushling and his plane yesterday afternoon. Shasta County Sheriff’s Office photos

Word of the plane’s disappearance prompted a wide-scale, multi-county and agency search after Bushling made his distress call around 9 p.m. Wednesday night. However, search efforts were hampered due to the weather and the fact that he made his request for an emergency landing while flying over Trinity County, while his phone was last pinged in the Siskiyou County area.

The search, which involved multiple area law enforcement agencies, Search and Rescue teams and other public safety organizations; included assistance from the Siskiyou, Trinity and Shasta county sheriff’s departments, CHP – Northern Division Air Operations, Shasta County Search and Rescue Jeep Patrol, Shasta County Search and Rescue Ground Team, Shasta County K9 Search & Rescue, Shasta County Sheriff Mounted Search & Rescue and Siskiyou County Sheriff Search and Rescue.

“The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office regretfully reports the positive identification of the (deceased) person at the plane crash site on Bradley Peak,” Siskiyou County Sheriff’s officials later reported; saying that Bushling was positively identified by their investigators and that the family had already been notified of his passing.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with his family,” they added.

A CHP helicopter can be seen lowering a rescuer to the area where a plane crashed Wednesday night while reportedly flying from Ashland, Oregon to Glenn County, California. Shasta County Sheriff’s Office photo

“As confirmed by Siskiyou County officials, the wreckage was located near Bradley Peak in southern Siskiyou County,” Shasta County Sheriff’s officials reported in a 3:42 p.m. social media release updating the public after yesterday’s tragic discovery. “Our thoughts are with the loved ones of the solo pilot of the aircraft who did not survive.”

The investigation into what led to the fatal crash is continuing and no further details have been released.

Click any image to open full-size gallery.

Shasta County Sheriff’s Office photos above, video below.

UPDATED: Friday, Oct. 22, 11:16 a.m.

UPDATE: Overdue, missing plane possibly located after vanishing over Siskiyou County

SISKIYOU COUNTY, Calif., — Authorities announced just minutes ago that a plane that vanished while flying over the Siskiyou and Trinity county areas Wednesday evening may have been located and officials are currently making their way to the sight where the plane may have went down. The aircraft disappeared after its pilot put out a distress call requesting an emergency landing, according to the Federal Aviation Administration and Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office.

“Around 10 a.m. today, we received a report from a man that believes he found the black Cessna we have been looking for,” Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office reported in a social media release at 11:02 a.m. this morning.

Officials have not yet specified where the plane may have been found; however, they have confirmed the plane in question was discovered within the Siskiyou County area.

“Currently our Search and Rescue units are accessing the area the plane was found,” SCSO continued; adding, “As additional information becomes available, we will update our FB page as well as our media outlets.”

“We ask that our readers be respectful regarding information and not putting out details that have not been confirmed by law enforcement,” SCSO continued; saying, “We want to be respectful to the family of William not perpetuate speculation.”

This story is continuing to develop and will be updated as new information becomes available.

Original Story: Overdue, missing plane’s pilot put out distress call prior to vanishing over Siskiyou County

SISKIYOU COUNTY, Calif. — Officials today are continuing to search for a plane and its pilot that disappeared while traveling from Oregon to California earlier this week. The pilot, 71-year-old, William Bushling, of Orland, was believed to be the sole occupant onboard the single-engine, 1972 Cessna 150 when it vanished; however that has not yet been confirmed. The distinctively-colored black plane features flames painted across its fuselage, tail and wheel fenders, with the tail number of N5268Q.

The overdue and now missing aircraft left Ashland, Oregon around 9:40 a.m. Wednesday morning, and was believed to have been headed south to Orland, west of Chico and about 100 miles north of Sacramento. According to officials, the pilot put out a distress call requesting an emergency landing while flying over the Trinity County area of Northern California. He has not been seen or heard from since.

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The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Department announced yesterday that they were searching for the plane and its pilot and asked for the public’s help in gathering details and information about the missing aircraft, after the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and Air Force Rescue Coordination Center notified law enforcement about the overdue aircraft.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the Cessna was headed for Haigh Field Airport in Glenn County, where the plane is registered to Trinity Flyers, but the sheriff’s office said no flight plan was filed.

Officials say William Bushling was believed to be the sole occupant onboard the single-engine Cessna 150 when it vanished, after the pilot made a distress call requesting an emergency landing while flying over the Trinity and Siskiyou county areas. Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office photo

Officials have said the last ping they received from the missing pilot’s cellphone picked up in the Siskiyou County area, prompting officials to focus their search in that area. However, Kelly Giordano, public information officer for the sheriff’s office has stressed that there is no indication yet that the plane crashed; saying, “It is still unclear if the plane had to perform an emergency landing somewhere or if the plane and pilot are safe and sound and just unable to call in.”

Giordano went on to say that around 9 p.m. Wednesday night, the Trinity County Sheriff’s Office received a request for an emergency landing from Bushling, but the plane never arrived.

Giordano said the last ping from Bushling’s cell phone was near Dunsmuir, in the area northeast of Dunsmuir and south of the SR-89 and I-5 in the Girard Ridge area.

Then, the following morning, the Trinity County Sheriff’s Office contacted the Siskiyou County dispatch center again and requested deputies check local airports for the missing Cessna, according to Giordano. However, Siskiyou deputies have been unable to locate the missing plane or pilot.

The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office has mobilized Search and Rescue (SAR) teams to search the last known area of the pilot’s phone in the Girard Ridge area, Giordano said Thursday evening.

“There are many federal, state and local agencies working to locate the pilot and his plane,” she continued.

Anyone with relevant information is encouraged to immediately contact the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office at (530) 841-2900.

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Contact the writer: [email protected]

Trevor Montgomery, 50, moved in 2017 to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source (RCNS) and Shasta County News Source (SCNS).

Additionally, he writes or has written for several other news organizations; including Riverside County-based newspapers Valley News, Valley Chronicle, Anza Valley Outlook, and Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle; the Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County; and Mountain Echo in Shasta County. He is also a regular contributor to Thin Blue Line TV and Law Enforcement News Network and has had his stories featured on news stations throughout the Southern California and North State regions.

Trevor spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)

During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.

Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.

Trevor has been married for more than 30 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 18 grandchildren.