The Roy police chief on Thursday asked federal and local investigators to find out why so many planes have crashed in the Weber County community near the Ogden Municipal Airport in the past four years.
In a letter, Chief Carl G. Merino said his officers have responded to five private plane crashes in or near the city since March 2016. Five people have died, including 64-year-old pilot Dave Goode, who was killed in a crash Wednesday.
“Personally, I have spoken with Roy City citizens in the recent past and felt I could assure them of their safety from the dangers of flights associated with the Ogden Airport,” he wrote. “I now regret making those statements, as it has become quite clear there is a safety problem for these aircraft!"
Merino called on the National Transportation Safety Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration and Ogden city — which owns the airport — to do an “extensive investigation” and “to attempt to find a common denominator which can be corrected to remove this danger to our citizens."
Ogden city administrator Mark Johnson said the city was open to an investigation and would make necessary changes if problems were found. However, he added, there isn’t a lot the airport can do about issues with individual aircraft or pilots — common factors when planes crash.
“There’s many, many airports that are in residential and commercial areas," Johnson said. “There will be times when those smaller aircrafts have failures, and I don’t have control over that. I don’t think the airport has control over that. I don’t think the [Federal Aviation Administration] has control over that.”
Police said Wednesday that it’s unclear what caused Goode to change course and crash land in the Roy neighborhood near 5050 South and 1800 West. The plane clipped a roof before hitting the ground, where it burst into flames and exploded.
Goode owned the Ogden-based company Goode Ski Technologies. A post on the company’s website says Goode died “while taking part in one of his many passions, piloting his airplane.”
“Through his numerous technological advancements in both water skiing and snow skiing, and financial support of countless events and athletes in both sports, Dave touched the lives of thousands of people by helping them, and the sports they love, push the limits of performance,” the post read.
No one else was injured in the crash.
In November, a plane emergency-landed on Interstate 15 — also south of the Ogden-Hinckley Airport — under unknown circumstances and two people were injured. That same plane also landed on I-15 in May 2018, clipping a car.
Two couples were killed in July 2017 when a plane’s engine failed shortly after taking off from the Ogden airport.
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