WEST JORDAN, Utah, Sept. 18, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — The National Transportation and Safety Board has ruled pilot error as the cause of a plane crash in a residential West Jordan neighborhood two years that killed four people.
The pilot of the Piper PA32R failed “to maintain the airplane’s speed during takeoff near the airplane’s maximum gross weight in high-density aircraft conditions, which resulted in the exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack and led to an aerodynamic stall, loss of control, and subsequent impact with structures and terrain,” according to the NTSB findings just released.
The plane struck three homes as it went down July 25, 2020, setting one on fire, leading to the death of a resident there.
Three of six people on board the plane died in the crash, including a small child, police said.
The deceased on board were Lee Wyckoff, 43, the pilot, as well as Milda Shibonis, 36, and Coral Wyckoff, 9 months.
An elderly woman, Mary Quintana, 72, whose house was engulfed in flames was severely burned and was initially hospitalized in critical condition, police said. She later died from her injuries, per the NTSB report.
Of the three others on the plane, Rebecca Wyckoff, then 36, and Cody Mitchell, then 2, survived critical injuries. Veda Sheperd, then 12, walked away from the crash, treated at a local hospital and released
According to a statement by West Jordan police, the plane crashed shortly after take-off from the nearby South Valley Regional Airport at about 1:39 p.m.
