Image: Standard-Examiner
All four people on board were killed Wednesday afternoon when a Beech A36 Bonanza crashed on a busy highway in Utah. Nobody on the ground was hurt, but the airplane narrowly missed several cars, according to local news reports. Two married couples from Utah were on board, and had taken off from Ogden-Hinckley Airport, about a half-mile from the I-15 freeway. The airplane had climbed to only about 300 feet when the engine made a “super loud sound,” witness Randy Paulson told KUTV. The Bonanza then dropped rapidly toward the interstate, hit the ground and burst into flame. “It was a big black solid red ball of fire,” Paulson said. “There’s no way you could’ve survived it.”
A truck driver who witnessed the crash told The Associated Press it appeared that the pilot was trying to land on the interstate. The two couples were leaving for a vacation, according to the AP. The Utah Department of Public Safety identified them as Layne Clarke, 48, the pilot; his wife, Diana Clarke, 42; Perry Huffaker, 45; and his wife, Sarah Huffaker, 42. The FAA is investigating.
