A pilot who authorities said took his life by intentionally crashing his plane into a field in northern California Saturday formerly lived in the Chicago area before he moved to the West Coast to further his career, his former employer said.
Zachary Cain Stickler, 34, formerly of Wadsworth in Lake County, had texted friends to let them know his intentions, authorities in California said.
The previous day, Stickler had pleaded not guilty in Shasta County Superior Court to making criminal threats and to a misdemeanor battery charge stemming from an alleged domestic dispute, Chief Deputy District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett said.
“I was absolutely shocked when I heard that,” said Jason Lamberton, chief operating officer of Accelerated Flight Training in Long Beach, Calif., where Stickler had previously worked as a flight instructor. “You never really know somebody, but he was not the kind of individual. … It is a terrible terrible loss.”
Stickler moved from Wadsworth to Long Beach in late 2013, according to public records. He worked for Accelerated Flight Training for about 10 months before telling Lamberton in December that he was leaving the job to accommodate his girlfriend’s job opportunity.
The couple moved to Redding, Calif., in the Sacramento Valley more than 200 miles north of San Francisco.
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“They moved here to launch their professional careers together,” said Lamberton, who described Stickler as professional and punctual. “…I offered to give him a reference (when he left the company) because he was an asset to our team.”
The charges stemmed from an argument in February in Redding that escalated and became physical, Bridgett said. The victim was dating Stickler, and the two were living together.
The woman with whom he lived posted on her Facebook page Saturday: “The greatest adventure buddy of my life died yesterday. He told me he had no regrets.”
She went on seemingly to quote Stickler as stating, “‘I’m going out on a high note. I actually lived life. How many people can truly say that? Is it better to have something mediocre for years and years or have something that’s condensed with beauty and over quickly?…I LOVED MY LIFE!'”
Stickler killed himself by crashing into a pasture on Saturday morning, Shasta County Sheriff’s Deputy Dustin Reynolds said. Sheriff’s officials responded to a report of an explosion around 8:30 a.m. and found a small debris field at the site where the single-engine Cessna crashed.
Text messages Stickler sent to friends and family before he crashed indicated he was distraught and planned to kill himself, Reynolds said. There was no indication he wanted to hurt anyone else, Reynolds added.
Sheriff’s officials said they did not know what, if anything, triggered Stickler to take his life.
Stickler worked more recently for Aperture Aviation, an aerial photography company, which extended its sympathies to his family and friends in a statement.
The Federal Aviation Administration has assigned two inspectors to the crash, one of whom may conduct an on-site inspection, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said.
Associated Press contributed.