JUSTIN HILL The Daily Herald on Friday, April 18
PROVO -- A student pilot and two instructors were killed during a training flight Thursday evening when their twin-engine plane crashed within a mile of a runway at the Provo Municipal Airport.
The three victims, all from Utah County, were pronounced dead at the scene. Their names were not being released until family members could be notified, said Sgt. Dennis Harris, a public information officer with the Utah County Sheriff's Office.
Investigators with the sheriff's office and Federal Aviation Administration were trying to determine the cause of the crash, Harris said.
Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board were expected to join the investigation this morning.
Harris said that police received a 911 call about 5:30 p.m. from witnesses who saw the plane crash. The plane, a Cessna 310, had been rented from Advantage Aviation, based at Provo's airport, before it crashed near Boat Harbor Drive in Provo, said Harris and Rod Jones, co-owner of Advantage.
The plane had been rented by a student for a couple of hours of training, said Jones, as he peered from behind a police checkpoint, trying to determine if the aircraft belonged to his company.
"It was one of the things we hope never happens," he said.
Like Jones, several pilots and flight instructors gathered behind a police checkpoint to the west of the wreckage, trying to determine who the plane belonged to.
A flight instructor with Utah Valley State College who was flying above Spanish Fork at the time of the crash said the pilot of the doomed plane radioed for priority landing -- asking all other planes to clear out of the way -- and then began his final landing approach on runway 18, which points directly south.
"He told the guy that was coming in that he needed priority," Steve Hanks said. "And that was the last we heard of him. ... He was having trouble right at the end."
After the crash, Hanks flew above the wreckage and saw the fuselage was engulfed in flames. Harris said the plane had broken into several pieces.
"You could tell it was a direct impact with the ground," Harris said. "It is mangled up pretty well."
Hanks said the weather conditions were good at the time of the crash.
Other witnesses said they heard noises coming from the plane's engine before it nose-dived into a field. Johnny and Christel Hoppe, a German couple who saw the crash, said through an interpreter that the plane stuttered and went straight down.
"Just straight down," Johnny Hoppe said.
Harris said witnesses saw the plane banking like it was going to turn before heading straight down into a field.
"It becomes very hard for people who witness it," said Harris, adding that he sympathizes with the victims. "We feel for them. We feel for their families."
PROVO -- A student pilot and two instructors were killed during a training flight Thursday evening when their twin-engine plane crashed within a mile of a runway at the Provo Municipal Airport.
The three victims, all from Utah County, were pronounced dead at the scene. Their names were not being released until family members could be notified, said Sgt. Dennis Harris, a public information officer with the Utah County Sheriff's Office.
Investigators with the sheriff's office and Federal Aviation Administration were trying to determine the cause of the crash, Harris said.
Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board were expected to join the investigation this morning.
Harris said that police received a 911 call about 5:30 p.m. from witnesses who saw the plane crash. The plane, a Cessna 310, had been rented from Advantage Aviation, based at Provo's airport, before it crashed near Boat Harbor Drive in Provo, said Harris and Rod Jones, co-owner of Advantage.
The plane had been rented by a student for a couple of hours of training, said Jones, as he peered from behind a police checkpoint, trying to determine if the aircraft belonged to his company.
"It was one of the things we hope never happens," he said.
Like Jones, several pilots and flight instructors gathered behind a police checkpoint to the west of the wreckage, trying to determine who the plane belonged to.
A flight instructor with Utah Valley State College who was flying above Spanish Fork at the time of the crash said the pilot of the doomed plane radioed for priority landing -- asking all other planes to clear out of the way -- and then began his final landing approach on runway 18, which points directly south.
"He told the guy that was coming in that he needed priority," Steve Hanks said. "And that was the last we heard of him. ... He was having trouble right at the end."
After the crash, Hanks flew above the wreckage and saw the fuselage was engulfed in flames. Harris said the plane had broken into several pieces.
"You could tell it was a direct impact with the ground," Harris said. "It is mangled up pretty well."
Hanks said the weather conditions were good at the time of the crash.
Other witnesses said they heard noises coming from the plane's engine before it nose-dived into a field. Johnny and Christel Hoppe, a German couple who saw the crash, said through an interpreter that the plane stuttered and went straight down.
"Just straight down," Johnny Hoppe said.
Harris said witnesses saw the plane banking like it was going to turn before heading straight down into a field.
"It becomes very hard for people who witness it," said Harris, adding that he sympathizes with the victims. "We feel for them. We feel for their families."
