EMERY COUNTY, Utah — Officials have provided new details about a plane crash that happened Friday in Emery County.
The National Transportation Safety Board reported on Saturday that a Cessna T206H went missing the day prior. The Emery County Sheriff's Office provided an update Monday, saying they were notified by Salt Lake Air Traffic Control about a possible crash around 6 p.m. when the plane stopped transmitting GPS coordinates in a mountainous area near Huntington.
The plane had departed from the Vernal Regional Airport, which is about 130 miles northeast of the crash site.
A deputy went to the area but was unable to access the location due to steep terrain, so the sheriff's office called in the help of the Utah Department of Public Safety. The DPS sent a helicopter crew to the area, and around 8:30 p.m. located the crashed plane.
Based on the wreckage, the DPS crew reported back that the crash was "not survivable," so a recovery mission was planned for Saturday morning because it would be too dangerous to navigate in the dark.
In the morning, a crew from the sheriff's office was lowered to the crash site by the DPS helicopter. They recovered the body of the pilot — a male whose name has not been released. The pilot was the only person on board.
"Emery County Sheriff's Office offers sincere condolences to the family and thanks the Utah DPS Aero Bureau for their expertise and assistance," the ECSO wrote in a press release.
