NTSB looks into power loss in fatal plane crash

Federal aviation investigators are looking at a power loss that led to a plane crash that killed a Salt Lake City firefighter.

The Nov. 21 crash in the Uinta Mountains near the town of Hanna, Duchesne County, killed Dylan Hopkins, 25, and seriously injured fellow firefighters Bryon Meyer and Craig Weaver. Authorities said Weaver was piloting the single-engine Cessna 172 when it made an emergency landing.

A preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board said that a family member reported to investigators that "the pilot said that after experiencing a loss of power and being too low to turn, he elected to land straight ahead in what he believed was a 'flat area."'

Searchers found the plane upright about 150 feet from where it landed.

"It was also reported by the recovery team that both wings remained attached to the airplane, both main landing gear had separated from the fuselage, and the fuselage was partially separated at the aft cabin bulkhead area," the NTSB report said. "The airplane's engine had separated upon impact and was located about 10 feet in front of the main wreckage."

The NTSB took the wreckage to a storage facility for examination. A final report is expected to be issued within the next year.

The three men were on their way from Salt Lake City to Colorado Springs for a weekend trip when the plane went down. Hopkins was with the Salt Lake City Fire Department for five years, working as a member of its tactical search and rescue team and a member of the FEMA urban search and rescue.

"At his young age, he had already served the rescue efforts after Hurricane Katrina, at great risk aided shooting victims at Trolley Square, fought some of the valley's biggest fires," his obituary said. "He lived for his career and for helping others who weren't able to help themselves."

Funeral services are scheduled Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Cathedral of the Madeleine in downtown Salt Lake City.

Another preliminary NTSB report on a fatal crash near Cedar Fort said the plane was performing a series of aerobatic maneuvers at a low altitude when it went down.

The Oct. 28 crash killed David Arthur Silfvast, 62, and his friend David Fay Edgerly, 71.

"The airplane was observed in a flat spin prior to impacting the ground where a post-impact fire ensued," the NTSB report said, citing local hunters who saw the crash. "Examination of the airplane by the Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed that the airplane came to rest inverted within an open field and was consumed by fire."

Silfvast was piloting a Stardust Too experimental biplane. He was involved in a similar crash in 1997 — but walked away unharmed in that one. The NTSB report gives no indication of what caused the crash. A final report is not expected to be released for at least a few more months.

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com