WARM SPRINGS, Ore. — Authorities have identified the man killed when a small private business jet crashed January 9 in mountainous terrain in the Warm Springs Indian Reservation of central Oregon.
Richard Boehlke, 72, of Portland, was flying solo when the plane went down, Lt. Ron Gregory of the Warm Springs Police Department said Monday.
The original flight plan indicated two persons on board, but Boehlke was the only person found in the wreckage, Gregory said.
Officers were notified by air traffic controllers at about 2:30 p.m. Saturday, January 9, of a possible crash in the Mutton Mountains on the reservation.
Flyovers by the Oregon State Police and the U.S. Air Force located the crash site.
Search and rescue crews reached the site on Sunday, confirming that the pilot and a lone passenger on the twin-engine Cessna Citation 560 were killed.
The cause of the crash has not been officially identified, Gregory said. "FAA did confirm that during his last transmissions, it sounded like Boehlke was slurring his words, possibly indicating some sort of medical issue, but nothing beyond that has been confirmed."
