The pilot of a Cessna P210N that crashed Wednesday near County Road 71 three miles north of Highway 96 in eastern Kiowa County has been identified.

John Lee Stubblefield, 64, of Meridian, Idaho, was found dead in the crashed aircraft. The fixed-wing, single engine plane is registered to Stubblefield Construction Company, also of Meridian. It was manufactured in 1978.

Stubblefield’s plane was reported to have disappeared from radar near the Colorado-Kansas state line. Bent-Kiowa Dispatch received a call around 9:30 a.m. reporting the disappearance.

Kiowa County responders were lead to the site by two F16 fighter jets and a B1 Bomber that were on a training mission in the area and had spotted the downed plane.

Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board personnel arrived at the scene Thursday and secured the aircraft.

An investigation into the cause of the crash may take as long as a year.