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Samantha Clemens / The Spectrum
Emergency officials respond to a fatal plane crash near the St. George Municipal Airport on Saturday.
Security video captured a small plane taking off from a southern Utah airport just before it crashed about 300 yards from the runway, killing all four men aboard, a federal investigator said Sunday.
Zoe Keliher of the National Transportation Safety Board said the video shows the single-engine Cessna 172 flying at a low level early Saturday morning at St. George Municipal Airport.
"The airplane continued down the runway and made a rapid ascent," Keliher told the Salt Lake Tribune. "Shortly after that, you see a descent of a few flickers of light but not the plane."
She added that it's too early to say whether the airport's camera video will offer clues into the cause of the crash.
Marc Mortensen, assistant to the St. George city manager, said officials believe the four men aboard the plane were killed upon impact. The wreckage wasn't discovered until more than four hours later because the airport is not staffed at night, he added.
The victims were identified Sunday as Colby Hafen, 28, and Christopher Chapman, 20, both of Santa Clara; Tanner Holt, 23, of Washington City; and Alexander Metzger, 22, of St. George.
Keliher and Mortensen said they were unsure where the plane was headed at the time. Keliher said only one of the four men had a pilot's license, but neither she nor Mortensen would identify the plane's pilot.
Holt's friend, Paul Hogue, told the Deseret News that Holt was a trained pilot who had flown commercially.
"The future can be taken from you so quickly and they had so much for their future," Hogue said. "They had future families and future wives and kids."
According to Federal Aviation Administration records, the Cessna 172 was built in 1999 and owned by Diamond Flying LLC of St. George.
Keliher said a cursory check of the plane's maintenance records turned up no major problems. She and representatives of Cessna and the company that built its engine inspected the aircraft after it was moved Sunday to a nearby hangar, she said.
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It will take months for her agency to examine the plane and pilot, and issue a final report, she said. The NTSB will issue a preliminary report on the crash in five days.
"I'm now trying to get ahold of family members (of the four), and will finish the inspection of the aircraft Monday," Keliher said Sunday evening. "I hope to wrap up the on-scene investigation and leave Tuesday."
'Wonderful son'
According to the National Weather Service, there were no severe weather conditions at the airport during the early on Saturday.
The airport, which has been in operation at its current site for about 1 1/2 years, does not have a control tower. Pilots use an automated system to communicate with one another when landing or taking off.
Hafen's family issued a statement describing him as a "wonderful son, brother and uncle" who loved to travel and who served a Mormon church mission to Oregon. He worked in the insurance business with his father.
"The community is grieving together," Mortensen told the AP. "St. George is a tight-knit community, and some of the families involved have been in the area over 100 years. If you live in this area, you know someone who knows one of these men."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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May God have mercy on the souls. Pilot in command of aircraft was the person in the left front seat of aircraft.
This statement tells it all. "The airplane continued down the runway and made a rapid ascent," A Cessna 172 with four men aboard can not make a rapid ascent on takeoff without stalling.
OldAxe,50 + years in the aircraft industry
But what does this mean: "Shortly after that, you see a descent of a few flickers of light but not the plane."
Rapid ascent shortly after takeoff in a 172 (with 4 passengers - unknown size) is usually not a good idea - stall at 200 ft = demise of occupants.
Cessna 172's are not true 4 person aircraft. With that passenger load, some bags, etc, and full fuel, it can easily go ever gross weight and have an aft center of gravity. That combination makes a stable climb after takeoff into an edgy event that can end in a stall/spin with nowhere near enough altitude and time to recover. To add to the difficulty, the pitch trim might have been set aft (nose up), creating a control yoke pressure that needed to be pushed hard forward to overcome.
This was my first thought as well. Over weight with an aft COG. Pilots really have to pay attention to loading, especially with 4 people in a 172.
Such a shame. They were all just beginning their lives.
OldAxe/NEA/flylow: your comments reflect my first thoughts. 50+years Pilot, old flight school instructor.
The NTSB will try to determine the cause, Good as they are the end results may be inconclusive.
Explor (In the mangled mess of a crash it is difficult to determine the seating arrangement.)
overloaded and aft CG = very short flight
I have flown a 172 with four pasengers (men) and the plane is at its max or close to it without bagage. Although the 172 is very forgiving I did it once and never again. It was my opinion not safe and the plane is dificult to handle when approaching the max. Based upon the article the plane stalled at take off and no time to recover. Unfortunatly your best climb speed when you have all the weigh must be adhered to. Weight and Balance is critical and taught many of times in receiving your private pilots lic.
Seems like small planes are not nearly as safe as big planes. Crashes happen all the time. With big planes it's usually weather related and/or pilot error. Very rarely do we hear a crash due to plane malfunction with a big plane.
The difference is the experience level. It takes at least a few thousand flight hours to get hired on with a major airline in the US. One can earn an unrestricted, private pilot certificate in as few as 40 hours...so total time is one factor in your observation. Also, airline pilots may fly nearly 1,000 hours per year, whereas a private pilot may only fly a few times a year, if that.
I've flown both large and small aircraft, and from a safety perspective a well-maintained aircraft is equally safe in the hands of a competent pilot using sound judgement. Sure, a multiengine airplane has a redundancy that single engine aircraft do not have, and larger planes tend to be more equipped to handle weather avoidance and icing conditions, but I refer back to my sound judgement comment.
Every couple of months if not every month there is a small plane crash. This stuff is dangerous. I just don't get people doing it.
Maybe it is because 90% of the airplanes in this country are general aviation aircraft.
No, General Aviation averages a few accidents a day. OTOH why would anyone drive? There are thousands of accidents a day in cars!
Another shiittty reporting job from msnbc. For instance; "it'll take months to examine the plane and pilot. Are you shiiittting me?! All four are dead, no examination is needed of the pilot. Right? Bullshiiittt! The reporter, in the previous paragraph said the pilot was not identified. Where's the fooking editor, giveing out head in the back room? Pilots don't use an automated system to communicate. Communication is done with, of all things, a radio!!! Imagine that. Poorly written, Poorly edited. A third grade asian learning the english language count do better.
Welcome to bureaucracy oh naive one. These people will scratch their you know what and try to go as slow as possible and then will need a bunch of their superiors to sign off on the report, so couple of months sounds about right.
If the government would ban small planes, this wouldn't happen.
I would prefer the government ban trolls like you.
I 2nd that!!!!!!!
The Pilot is responsible for his own death and the deaths of the other three men just as sure as if he had a gun and pulled the trigger. Oh I know what, ban air planes.
Ban airplanes??? That has got to be the dumbest comment I've heard!! I've driven many different vehicles in my 20 years of driving, accruing over 500K miles easily and even I know that airplanes are much safer than vehicles!!! If anything were to get banned first, it would be vehicles,u dumbazzes!!! BTW, a good craftsman never blames his tools.....
A couple of assumptions, 4 grown men, lets be conservative and say 160 a piece, that's 640 pounds. Another assumption is 43 gallons of fuel at 6 pounds a gallons or another 258 pounds. We now have 898 pounds. Not knowing the density altitude or temp and humidity, can not say what level the performance of the aircraft was. Also do not know if anything baggage was aboard. However being a 172 owner and pilot, this aircraft was definitely beyond its capability. With a rapid ascent, another assumption is it was a low altitude stall, with no possibility of recovery. Overloading and performance issues are not something to guess at. That's why safe pilots use weight and balance before take off. This is an accident that could have been avoided and it is a shame that 4 people lost their lives.
xsited1,
And if the government would ban all automobiles 50,000 + lives would be saved every year. The government is not responsible for stupid but they are a carrier.
"I'm now trying to get ahold of family members (of the four), and will finish the inspection of the aircraft Monday," Keliher said Sunday evening
Well if they hadnt' been notified, they have been now if they read this.....how sad to publish the names prior to families being notified.
Everyone's jumping to conclusions that it was a weight and balance problem. The pilot may have become disoriented at night just after takeoff.
Which still makes it a pilot error problem. His friend made the comment that he had flown commercially - therefore he had his instrument rating.
It comes down to overestimating your abilities and overestimating the performance of the equipment.
Well, where can we see the video?
Keliher and Mortensen said they were unsure where the plane was headed at the time. Keliher said only one of the four men had a pilot's license, but neither she nor Mortensen would identify the plane's pilot.
I find it odd there would be a COG issue with an experienced commercial pilot so who was really flying?