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 fatal 2022 Cessna 208 crash was caused by the pilot's failure to maintain altitude during an instrument approach, leading to impact with an exhaust stack on a potato processing plant.
The processing plant failed to implement FAA-advised mitigation measures, such as painting the hazardous exhaust stacks for increased visibility, despite warnings dating back to 2016.
Contributing factors included poor visibility due to snowing IFR conditions and steam from the processing plant, which likely created distraction, illusion, or obscuration for the pilot.
The RNAV 20 approach path had a steep 3.75-degree descent angle, indicating an obstacle, a detail noted on approach plates and in the airport's Chart Supplement Directory.

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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.