Utah Plane Crash Investigation Focuses on Restricted Airspace

After a second day of investigation into the collision of a twin-engine commuter aircraft and a small private plane over the Salt Lake City suburb of Kearns that claimed 10 lives, federal safety experts continued Saturday to focus on the intrusion of the smaller plane into restricted airspace.

“All the accounts thus far fit together in a consistent picture,” said John Lauber, the National Transportation Safety Board member heading the inquiry.

Lauber said additional radar data obtained Saturday confirmed that a small plane, not in contact with air traffic controllers at Salt Lake City International Airport, intruded into the restricted Airport Radar Service Area surrounding the airport before the collision.

Recorded radar data analyzed earlier from Salt Lake City International showed the image of an aircraft not under control of air traffic controllers entering the ARSA about the same time that the commuter plane turned for its final approach. The two disappeared from radar screens about the same time.

Although investigators could not say the small plane was the craft involved in the crash, controllers reported seeing no other planes that were not accounted for in the general area before the collision, Lauber said.

Interviews with the controller who handled the approach of the commuter plane confirmed that he was aware of a second plane not under his jurisdiction in the moments before the two planes converged. Lauber said, however, that the controller did not recall the small plane coming closer than about three miles to the larger craft and that he did not warn the pilot.

Lauber also said additional interviews with eyewitnesses, including three schoolchildren, echoed earlier accounts that indicated that the SkyWest commuter plane and the Mooney M-20 were flying at about the same altitude Thursday afternoon before they collided.