This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The pilot of a single-engine plane was killed in a crash Saturday in Beaver County, police said.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Mike Fergus said the plane's pilot reported experiencing a "rough engine" about 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. After that time, communication was lost.
Search and rescue crews looked for the aircraft Saturday but had to call off the search due to weather, dispatchers said.
The search resumed again Sunday morning. At about 1:30 p.m. searchers found the single-engine, fixed-wing plane and the pilot's body six miles west of Milford.
The California pilot, who was alone in the plane, took off from Vail, Colo., on Saturday morning and was headed to Los Angeles, police said. The pilot stopped in Grand Junction, Colo., because of weather but took off again Saturday.
About 8 p.m., the plane disappeared from radar.
"Visibility was down. It was pretty bad," said Beaver County Sheriff Cameron Noel. "He just got into some bad weather and was attempting to get to the [Milford] airport. Unfortunately, he didn't make it."
According to FAA records, the plane was an amateur-built, experimental craft.
The name of the pilot was not immediately released.