NTSB: Pilot Was Flying Too Low Before Hitting Smokestack in Idaho

The potato processing plant also had not correctly painted the hazards to increase their visibility, the aviation safety agency said.

Meg Godlewski

Friday, May 03, 2024 at 04:46 PM ET

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A security camera captured this image of the Cessna Caravan moments prior to the 2022 accident. [Courtesy: National Transportation Safety Board]

Key Takeaways:

A Cessna 208 Caravan fatally crashed into an unpainted exhaust stack on a potato processing plant roof during an instrument approach to Burley Municipal Airport in April 2022, under snowing, IFR conditions.
The NTSB determined the probable cause was the pilot's failure to maintain altitude, descending below the approach path, further complicated by the plant's failure to paint the hazardous stacks and potential obscuration from steam.
The FAA had identified these exhaust stacks as a hazard in 2016 and recommended mitigation measures, including painting the stacks white and aviation orange, but photographic evidence showed these measures were not implemented.

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Mitigation measures addressing the hazards of an exhaust stack on the roof of a potato processing plant were supposed to be in place in Idaho prior to a Cessna 208 Caravan flying into them, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

The NTSB released its final report into the fatal April 2022 accident that occurred when the pilot was on approach to Burley Municipal Airport (KBYI). The aircraft collided with an exhaust stack that lies directly beneath the extended centerline of Runway 20. The accident happened shortly after 8:30 a.m. when it was snowing and IFR conditions prevailed.