This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated.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.
Federal accident investigators still do not know why a Utah Valley University training aircraft fell from the sky a year ago, killing a flight instructor and student.
But as UVU's aviation program marked the somber anniversary of the crash, a university official said the school has taken steps to make safety an even higher priority.
"The foremost thing we think about is safety," said Ernest Carey, dean of the College of Technology and Computing, which includes the aviation department. The interview Thursday with Carey was monitored by university spokesmen.
Among the steps taken since the accident was requiring all flight instructors to go through annual training to pull a plane out of a spin, reorganizing the department and making the new safety officer more visible.
On Nov. 17, 2010, UVU flight instructor Jamie Bennee and student pilot David Wayne Whitney Jr. were killed when their single-engine plane crashed in a Payson neighborhood, about 300 feet from Wilson Elementary School.
Witnesses told crash investigators they saw the plane come down in a spin.
The National Transportation Safety Board is still investigating, but it has released a "factual" report, stating findings so far without drawing conclusions.
The report indicated no mechanical problems with the aircraft, and toxicological tests on Bennee and Whitney came back negative.
Carey said UVU had its program reviewed by Florida-based Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to see what changes, if any, needed to be made in the wake of the crash.
Among other recommendations, Embry-Riddle's auditors urged increasing the prominence of the department's safety officer.
The NTSB report noted the safety director did not formally track accidents or close calls. He also was unaware of funding that was set aside for the instructors to receive one hour a month of proficiency training, at a cost of between $101 and $250 an hour.
Carey said the safety director at the time of the crash retired, and the department hired a new one. That retirement, he said, was planned before the crash.
"The safety officer is more visible," Carey said. "When pilots walk in, the first thing they see is the safety officer's door."
And the safety director reports directly to Carey and not the flight-school staff.
UVU also restructured the department, putting the chief instructor over four assistant chief instructors, who oversee all aspects of flight training.
Another change is requiring all flight instructors to go through spin-recovery training annually. Previously, instructors were required to go through the training only once in their career.
Carey said the FAA has agreed to the new testing standard.
Carey also challenged the report's claim that there was no means for anyone to anonymously report safety concerns. He said there is a suggestion box at UVU's Provo Municipal Airport building, and the university has procedures that allow a whistleblower to take concerns all the way to President Matthew Holland if needed.
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