NTSB and FAA investigate fatal Monona County plane crash

SIOUX CITY (KTIV) - Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have been on the scene of a deadly plane crash outside of Ute, Iowa.

The investigators spent Sunday examining the Air Tractor 502 single-seat airplane that’s used for agricultural spraying. A 911 caller told the dispatcher that a plane had struck powerlines Saturday afternoon, crashed and caught fire in a roadway, this according to a news release from the Monona County Sheriff’s office.

Investigators are trying to determine if any outside factors played a role in the crash. As of now, investigators are uncertain if the plane was flying in a North to South, or an East to West pattern.

Their focus on Sunday was spent on ruling out the possibility of a what they called a “pre-impact anomaly.”

“From what I’m being told, it looks like the airplane came into contact with the electrical lines at some point during its course of doing business in the field and that’s why we had the crash,” said Jeff Pratt, Monona County Sheriff.

The plane crash wreckage was still on the scene Sunday afternoon as investigators took a closer look to find out more about what happened. Part of the process is documenting their observations of what the scene currently looks like.

“So what we’re doing right now is the on-scene documentation, so really this is the point where we’re trying to get all of the information that we can about what the scene looks like. What angles, what’s down, what we’re doing, so that’s what we’re documenting right now. We’re looking at the airplane is all in tact in one area so we’re not looking at any pieces that came off prior to hitting the power lines.,” said Jason Aguilera, of the NTSB.

Investigators did not let media pass the roadblock.

Other factors that the investigators will look at include weather at the time of the crash and the amount of experience the pilot had.

The pilot’s name hasn’t been released yet pending notification of relatives.

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