According to a Cameroonian online newspaper, The Cameroon Postline, a plane wreckage has apparently been found in the Bakossi Mountain area in the southwest of the country, and is believed to be that of the Cessna 172 flown by missing US pilot, Bill Fitzpatrick. The Bakossi area is included in the terrain that African Parks had identified as a possible crash site. The wreckage was apparently discovered on Friday 10 April by teenagers who were hunting in the area at the time.
Bill Fitzpatrick, the resident pilot at Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Congo went missing on 22 June last year en route between Nigeria and Cameroon. He had collected the new park aircraft in Dakar in Senegal and was following a route plan organised by a UK-based flight planning and clearance company to fly it to its final destination at Odzala.
An extensive ground and air search has been conducted over the course of the past 10 months by African Parks, by WWF-Cameroon and Cameroon and US authorities, in order to find both Bill and the plane. An experienced pilot with more than 25 years’ experience, Bill Fitzpatrick was previously employed as a ranger and pilot at North Cascades National Park in Washington State and prior to that at Artic National Park in Alaska.
As soon as more information becomes available, African Parks will provide an update on our website.