Pilot identified as 58-year-old Quin Banta, a Clark County resident
BATTLE GROUND — The deceased pilot of an ultralight aircraft that crashed Monday morning in North Clark County has been identified as 58-year-old Quin T. Banta, a Clark County resident.
On Monday at 9:20 a.m., EMS and Clark County Sheriff’s Office (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, Banta, was the lone occupant of the airplane was pronounced deceased at the scene.
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.
In other news Tuesday, Michael Banta was listed as a deceased subject in a collision near Battle Ground on Monday evening. According to their immediate families, Quin Banta and Michael Banta are not related, and the two events are not related.
The plane crash is still under investigation.
Information provided by Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
