RAINIER, Ore. — Editor's note: On July 20, a woman told KGW that the tail washed up near her cabin's property along the Columbia River.
The owner of a piece of plane wreckage that prompted a rescue effort from the U.S. Coast Guard earlier this month said he planned to move it away from the Columbia River, but someone stole the tail.
Gary Welter's airplane tail was sticking out of the tree line on his private beachfront near Rainier, Ore.
On July 12, the Coast Guard and local emergency responders responded to reports of a downed plane, but a search for survivors was called off after rescuers determined the plane wreckage was from a 2020 crash.
Welter got the plane’s tail from his friend, the co-owner of the crashed Piper Comanche, who said he planned to scrap it.
Instead, Welter put it in his yard. He told KGW he didn’t think it would cause such a stir. It was there for three weeks before someone spotted it and called for help.
Welter said he planned to move the tail Monday after a request from the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office. Dispatchers were receiving too many calls about the wreckage. However, Welter discovered someone stole the main part of the tail and left smaller pieces and the fuselage behind.
