Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- The National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report on a fatal June 23 plane crash.
- The 44-year-old pilot was on an overnight solo training flight from Salt Lake City.
- The pilot deviated from the planned route and crashed near Willard Peak.
WILLARD, Box Elder County — The pilot who died in a plane crash June 23 was conducting a flight as part of a commercial flight training program, according to a new investigative report.
The pilot, a 44-year-old man from the Salt Lake area, was found dead when responders located the wreckage of a Cessna 172S, according to the Box Elder County Sheriff's Office.
The National Transportation Safety Board released its Aviation Investigation Preliminary Report on Tuesday.
According to the report, the pilot was "instrument-rated" and conducting the solo night cross-country flight as part of a training program. The pilot had completed a similar flight with an instructor less than two weeks before the crash.
Before the crash, the pilot filed an electronic flight plan, which involved flying overnight from Salt Lake City to Idaho Falls, Idaho, according to the report.
The report states that the pilot left Salt Lake City at 8:25 p.m. on June 23, traveling north along the Mountain Road route using visual flight rules. However, rather than turning to the west to navigate toward the McKay-Dee Hospital Ogden visual waypoint, the pilot continued north along the mountains.
Air traffic control made contact with the pilot, advising him to maintain his own navigation using visual waypoints. The report states the pilot acknowledged air traffic control's instructions and repeated them back. There was no further recorded communication from the pilot.
The pilot successfully reached the Ogden Canyon visual waypoint, but again continued north toward the mountains rather than turning west toward the Power Station visual waypoint, according to the report.
The report states that the plane maintained an altitude of between 8,880-9,000 feet throughout its flight until it crashed into the mountains near Willard Peak. The pilot of another airplane flying the same day, approximately 10 miles behind the plane that crashed, told the NTSB that the horizon and mountains were "dark and mostly indiscernible."
FlightAware reported the plane crash on June 23.
