The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office has released the identity of a man they believe to be the pilot of the aircraft that crashed Tuesday afternoon approximately a mile off the coast of Oceano.
Based on a wallet recovered from the crash site and interviews with undisclosed people, authorities believe the pilot of the aircraft to be 63-year-old David Brian Casey, of Friday Harbor, Wash.
The Sheriff’s Office has yet to determine whether there were additional passengers aboard the plane.
According to a Sheriff’s Office news release, officials have not recovered any bodies at this point, and the Sheriff’s Dive Team and Marine Enforcement Division continue to search what they believe to be the crash site using sonar equipment.
After daybreak Wednesday, six divers with the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office Search and Recover Dive Team resumed the search for wreckage and any passengers aboard the single-engine aircraft that went down around 1:45 p.m. Tuesday approximately a mile offshore of the Pier Avenue ramp in Oceano.
At 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office confirmed that members of the team have discovered both human remains and a wallet among scattered debris around what they believe to be the crash site.
The aircraft itself had not been located.
— Matt Fountain is a reporter with the San Luis Obispo Tribune.