The 4th of July holiday weekend is one of the busier times of the year for general aviation. Unfortunately, this also means that there are often tragedies that mar the festivities.
In this case, a Cessna 172 that was rented from a Salt Lake and Spanish Fork-based flight school crashed in American Fork Canyon killing all four occupants.
This crash hits close to home for ALG attorney Casey DuBose. He trained to fly at Spanish Fork airport and has logged hundreds of hours flying around the area of the crash. He instructed in some of the aircraft that are part of the Platinum Aviation fleet when they were owned by another flight school – Diamond Flight Center.
The cause of the accident is yet to be determined, but witnesses describe the aircraft in a stall/spin as it hit the terrain. Hot weather and the high altitude of mountainous flying would be a dangerous combination for a 172 that was loaded with four adults. This area has many dead-end canyons, leaving the pilot with few options to return to safer terrain if the aircraft lost performance.
This is not the first incident that has occurred were this aircraft has lost power as it had an off-field landing in 2015 in North Carolina. https://wlos.com/news/local/plane-lands-on-local-highway-01-20-2016?jwsource=cl
We send our heartfelt condolences to the family of and friends of those who were lost in this crash.