NTSB issues report in Four Corners plane crash that killed 3

The National Transportation Safety Board has released its conclusions on a plane crash that killed three Blanding men.

An NTSB report said the probable causes of the crash that killed Eric Johnson, Brian Bayles and Kim Acton were "the pilot's failure to maintain clearance from terrain while maneuvering. Contributing to the accident was the low altitude."

The men were in a Piper single-engine airplane when it crashed Aug. 8 in a field in the Four Corners area. They were out spotting wildlife, authorities said, and apparently flying at a low altitude.

"A witness traveling north on a highway adjacent to the accident site reported that he observed an airplane circling in the vicinity with the wings 'completely up and down' before the airplane's wings leveled onto a westerly heading," the NTSB report said. "The witness added that the plane was at an 'extremely low altitude' before he lost sight of the airplane below the horizon."

No one saw the crash. The NTSB report said there was no evidence of any mechanical problems.

"Wreckage and impact signatures were consistent with the airplane impacting terrain within an open plowed field in a right wing low altitude," an accident brief said. "The wreckage debris bath was about 190 feet."

Authorities said Johnson, 36, was the pilot. The NTSB report concluded he had no medical issues or drugs in his system at the time of the crash and had accumulated approximately 356 hours of flight time in the same plane.

Johnson and Bayles were members of the Blanding City Council. Acton was a former member of the council.

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