Search Goes On After Long-Lost Plane Found

Humboldt County sheriff’s deputies are continuing to search the woods near the tiny lumber town of Scotia for the remains of a Thousand Oaks couple missing since their plane disappeared more than 19 years ago.

On Thursday, the beige, single-engine Commander aircraft belonging to Norman and Beverly Jean Wascher was discovered among giant redwoods on a steep slope about 25 miles south of Eureka. Authorities said foresters from Pacific Lumber Co. were out mapping a logging road to be cut next year near Scotia when they found the plane.

Norman Wascher and his wife were flying from Murray Field north of Eureka and were bound for Santa Barbara when their plane was reported missing on June 19, 1977, Humboldt County Sheriff Dennis Lewis said.

Neither Norman Wascher nor his wife have been heard from in more than 19 years, and deputies who hiked 45 minutes through mountainous terrain to reach the crash site Thursday found no sign of survivors or human remains near the plane, which was perched nose-down on a 75-degree slope.

Authorities believe the plane was flying upward trying to reach the top of the ridge when it crashed. Two redwoods were sheared off at about 40 feet, and the plane hit a third tree, one deputy said. It turned and came to rest with its tail sticking straight up.

Deputies found clothing on hangers, jewelry, a satchel with papers inside, credit cards and a ladies’ purse. “Most of the stuff was back up in the fuselage,” the deputy said. “It was not really in bad condition.”

Authorities also found about $250 in cash stashed inside a book. “The money was out in the elements a little bit more,” the deputy said. It snows in the region, and the money very likely got wet numerous times over the years. “It just fell into pieces in your hands,” the deputy said.

Among the pieces of paper that did not weather away was a receipt from a local Longs Drug Store that deputies found in a Styrofoam cooler inside the plane; it was dated June 19, 1977.