From Deseret News archives:
Fiery plane crash kills 2 near Cedar Fort in Utah County
"You could hear the plane while it was flying, hear the engine plainly, but when it gets quiet like that you know something is wrong," Hawkins said.
The next thing he and a fellow hunter saw was a huge cloud of smoke from the base of the Oquirrh Mountains near West Canyon. He called 911 at 11:03 a.m. and rushed to the site.
"The plane had landed upside down," Hawkins said. "It pancaked in upside down. When we first got there, everything was still burning."
The fire burned two victims inside and left what Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Tom Hodgson called "charred wreckage."
Officials have confirmed that both people died. A sheriff's press release late Tuesday night said they have probable identification of the victims and are working to notify next of kin before releasing the names.
Most of the plane's debris was consumed by the fire; however, investigators combed through leafless trees and smoldering rubble 300 yards in each direction from the impact site, looking for any information about the small blue-and-white plane.
Another hunter in the area, Allen Dustin of Lehi, said he only noticed the plane when the engine made a funny noise. He looked up and said he saw the plane dropping in a spin.
"I spent my whole life (with) aircrafts," he said. "I recognized that he was in a stall and he didn't get it out. He was above the mountain ridge, coming straight down, flat, spinning. I knew he was in trouble right then."
Dustin, who spent 30 plus years with NASA, said he wondered if it was an aerobatic move, which is how Hawkins described the actions.
But Dustin knew it was something far worse when the pilot couldn't pull the plane's nose up. He watched in horror as the plane plummeted into the mountain side.
Hawkins, who also served in the Air Force, said it looked like a small homemade plane with a tube-like frame, cloth covering and a small fiberglass cockpit — a plane specifically designed for stunt flying, he said.
Hodgson said they are now fairly confident the plane came from an airport in Salt Lake County, but are still working to verify that.
"We're just trying to piece these things together," Hodgson said.
Nearly 45 officers and investigators from Saratoga Springs, Cedar Fort and Eagle Mountain fire departments, as well as Utah County Fire and the Utah County Sheriff's Office, as well as the state medical examiner were on scene Tuesday.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are both sending investigators to the scene.
The crash was a few miles north of Cedar Fort, a small town west of Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs off state Route 73.
E-mail: sisraelsen@desnews.com
