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 collided with an exhaust stack on approach to Burley Municipal Airport in April 2022 under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) conditions, resulting in a fatal accident.
The NTSB determined the probable cause was the pilot's failure to maintain altitude during an instrument approach, descending below the approach path and impacting the stack.
Contributing factors included the processing plant's failure to correctly paint the exhaust stacks (which the FAA had previously identified as a hazard) and the likely distraction/obscuration created by steam from the plant.

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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.