Utah brothers’ plane crashed in windy canyon
SALT LAKE CITY — Federal investigators say a small plane that crashed in northwestern Arizona last month while carrying two brothers from Clinton, Utah, was flying in a very windy canyon.
A preliminary National Transportation Safety Board report says motorists on Interstate 15 saw the single-engine Cessna flying low overhead in the canyon on July 20. The plane hit a canyon wall about 100 feet above the road.
The brothers, Daulton Rey Whatcott, 19, and Jason McKee Whatcott, 16, both of Clinton, died in the crash. Daulton Rey Whatcott was the pilot
NTSB investigator Larry Lewis told The Associated Press last month that the plane should have been flying at a minimum of 500 feet.
The Spectrum of St. George reported Sunday that the closest weather report from an airport 20 miles away shows wind gusts were about 20 miles per hour.
A full report into the crash isn’t expected for months.
