A 48-year-old Bend man died Tuesday after deliberately crashing his small plane in a forested area west of the city, hours before he was scheduled to face a grand jury indictment on felony privacy charges.
Steven Nicholas Charlton was piloting a Cirrus SR22T when he brought the plane down intentionally at around 6:46 p.m. on Aug. 4, according to detectives with the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office. He was alone in the plane and died from the crash; no one else was hurt and no property was damaged.
Hours-Long Flight Preceded Crash
Charlton took off from Bend Municipal Airport around 1:30 p.m. that day and stayed in the air for slightly more than five hours, circling repeatedly over a densely wooded section of the county.Law enforcement tried repeatedly to reach him while he was airborne, but he indicated he only wanted to talk to his family, the sheriff's office said.
Multi-Agency Response
Given the uncertainty of the situation, officials mounted a large precautionary operation involving the Central Oregon Emergency Response Team, the FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration, Bend Fire & Rescue, the Central Oregon Irrigation District and the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office. The FBI additionally stayed in touch with the Air Force installation in Klamath Falls, authorities said.Access to the crash site remains limited for both the public and media while investigators work to clear lingering hazards. Records show the plane was owned by Eugene-based So Fly Aviation LLC and received FAA certification on March 3, 2025.
The FAA confirmed in a statement sent to NTD News that the crash occurred near Bend around 6:50 p.m. Tuesday and that only the pilot was aboard. The agency said its findings remain preliminary and could change, and that the National Transportation Safety Board would lead the probe with additional updates to follow. The FAA said it expects to post a preliminary report to its online accident database, typically within a business day of the crash. The NTSB and FAA planned to arrive on scene Wednesday to launch their investigation, and the safety board is asking anyone who saw the flight, witnessed the crash, or interacted with Charlton at the airport to reach out at [email protected].
Pending Felony Case
Charlton had been indicted a day before his death on five counts of first-degree invasion of personal privacy, according to Deschutes County Court records cited by local outlet KTVZ. Prosecutors initially filed a single count against him on July 30, and he was released on $10,000 security after appearing by video that day. The conditions of his release, signed Aug. 3, barred him from contacting a list of named individuals, restricted his use of cameras or recording devices, and required him to stay in Oregon and attend future court dates.A grand jury returned the five-count indictment on Aug. 4, with an arraignment that had been set for Aug. 6. The charges alleged he recorded two people naked without their consent between June and September 2025, in settings where they expected privacy.