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### UPDATED INFO, 4/7/2020, DECEASED PILOT IDENTIFIED###
The deceased pilot from yesterday's ultralight airplane crash is identified as Quin T. Banta, age 58. Banta was listed as a resident of Clark County. Banta possessed an FAA Student Pilot Certificate and was operating a Kolb Firestar 2 ultralight aircraft powered by a single 2-stroke 52 horsepower engine. The Firestar 2 appears to be a kit-built aircraft, manufactured in 2013 by Kolb Aircraft, Inc. Banta appears to have owned it since October, 2018.
Based on information gathered by CCSO deputies, Banta took off from Grove Field in Camas earlier in the day. At this point in the investigation, it is not known why Banta's aircraft crashed near Daybreak Airport. According to witnesses, it did not appear that Banta's airplane was in the process of landing or taking off.
***NOTE: in an earlier press release, Michael Banta was listed as a deceased subject in a collision from the evening of 4/6. According to their immediate families, Quin Banta and Michael Banta are not related, and the two events are not related.***
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PHOTOS ADDED 4/6/2020 1729 hours
Two photos of the crash site have been added to this press release, taken by deputies investigating the incident. As of this notification, next of kin for the deceased have not been located.
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On 4/6/2020 at 0920 hours EMS and CCSO personnel were dispatched to a possible aircraft crash near Daybreak Airport, near the 4100 block of NE JA Moore Road in the Battle Ground/La Center area of north Clark County. A resident on a hillside to the west of the Airport reported seeing an ultralight airplane possibly crash near the runway. Daybreak Airport is a private grass airstrip.
Upon arrival, EMS personnel and deputies located the small aircraft, which had crashed several hundred yards from the runway in some brush alongside the East Fork of the Lewis River. The pilot and lone occupant of the airplane was pronounced deceased at the scene.
Deputies are currently at the crash site, and NTSB personnel have been notified. The incident is under investigation. Notification of next of kin is pending, and the name of the pilot is not being officially released at this time.
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