Pilot's Body Found In Crashed Plane At Point Reyes National Seashore

MARIN COUNTY, CA – The body of a pilot who was flying from Santa Ynez to the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport was found this afternoon in a crashed Cessna in the southern area of the Point Reyes National Seashore, Seashore spokesman John Dell'Osso said.

The plane with only the pilot aboard crashed into a hillside in very steep terrain with heavy shrubbery and coyote brush two or three miles off the Ridge and Palmomarin trailheads, Dell'Osso said.

The pilot's identity has not been released.

The Cessna 172 was reported overdue while the pilot was flying between Santa Barbara and Sonoma counties, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.

The plane's last known position was near Bolinas outside the Point Reyes National Seashore, Gregor said.

The U.S. Coast Guard received a signal from an emergency locator transmitter around 1 p.m. Thursday, Dell'Osso said. The Coast Guard then searched for a wreckage two miles off shore but found none.

A signal from another transmitter was received from the south end of the Point Reyes National Seashore prompting a land search by 20 to 30 people until 3 a.m. today.

The shore was fogged in all day, Dell'Osso said, but another land search resumed at 8 a.m.

The Marin and Napa counties' Search and Rescue teams, Marin Fire Department, National Park Service, California Patrol, Bolinas Fire Department and Civil Air Patrol participated in the search.

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By Bay City News Service

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