Pilot found dead in Utah County plane crash

Publish date: 2024-05-02

UPDATE 11:30 a.m. Saturday — The pilot has been identified by his sister as Tracy Roesler, 43, of Idaho. He had been working as a pilot for Geomni since last year.

(KUTV) -- The pilot of a twin-engine Cessna 320 is dead after his plane crashed Thursday in Utah County.

The wreckage was found Friday afternoon near the top of Lake Mountain. The plane broke up into multiple pieces upon impact, in a very difficult area to access. So difficult in fact, that investigators had to use ATVs and other aircraft to access it.

The pilot’s identity has not yet been released and while he is believed to be from Utah, his journey actually originated in Caldwell, Idaho.

He was flying around the Cedar Valley area, taking aerial photographs and images for a company called Geomni.

It’s understood he intended to refuel at Provo Airport at some point, but never did. He was expected back in Caldwell around 5 p.m. or 6 p.m.

Around 4:30 p.m., one of his coworkers became concerned and the alarm was raised.

DPS and Civil Air Patrol started looking for him Thursday evening with Utah County Sheriff’s joining the search on Friday morning.

Around 12:30 p.m, the wreckage was found.

It will be some time before the wreckage can all be removed. The body of the victim is expected to be examined Saturday by the state medical examiner.

NTSB and the FAA are investigating what brought the plane down.

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