BEAVER, Utah (ABC 4 News) - Investigators say a plane crash near the Beaver Airport in Beaver County was caused by pilot error.
It happened around 5 p.m. on Thursday evening. The pilot, Dayn Jenkins of Salt Lake, and two other passengers were hurt in the crash. Chris Cooper from Oklahoma was one of the passengers. He called 911. That tape was released to ABC4.
Dispatcher: “Anybody injured?”
Cooper: “Yes...two, three, I'm not sure what happened to my head.”
Dispatcher: “You're one of them?”
Cooper: “Yes.”
Cooper told the dispatcher where the plane ended up. Screaming and moaning can be heard during the 911 call.
Cooper: “We're in a field directly south of the airport (screaming and moaning)… maybe a mile… Oh! (more screaming).”
The sheriff’s office said that the other injured man is Kurt Jenkins, the father of the pilot. Cooper told the dispatcher that the older man might have had back injuries.
Cooper: “We're not sure if this guy broke his back.”
Beaver County Sheriff Cameron Noel said that the pilot got in trouble when he took off the wrong way after a fuel stop.
“They had a pretty strong tailwind, he realized that,” said Sheriff Noel. Sheriff Noel also said it caused the plane to head straight for a mountain.
“As it was pulling up, so it wouldn't go into the side of the mountain, it stalled and they crashed,” said Sheriff Noel.
All three men were injured but none of the injuries were life threatening according to police.
“They're lucky, they're real lucky,” said Sheriff Noel. The sheriff said he has investigated two other plane crashes at the same airport where no one survived.
The pilot and passenger, Chris Cooper, were treated and released with minor injuries. Kurt Jenkins, the father of the pilot, was air lifted to the Intermountain Medical Center in Murray where he was listed in critical condition with back injuries on Friday.
