MOAB -- Three people walked away from a plane that crashed and caught fire at the Mineral Bottoms landing strip about 35 miles north of Moab Tuesday morning.
The pilot, Scott Chew, 34, Estes Park, Colo., and passengers Nicole Dudek, 24, Estes Park, and Lawrence Bloom, 35, Birmingham, Mich., were uninjured, according to a Grand County sheriff's report.At 8:30 a.m., while attempting take off from the dirt, the 1963 Cesna 185B apparently began having mechanical problems. Unable to get off the ground, Chew steered the plane beyond the landing strip through brush and small trees before coming to rest 5 feet from a river embankment, the report stated.
Chew saw flames coming from the engine and tried to extinguish them while the two passengers exited the plane. The plane was fully engulfed within minutes and was destroyed. It also caused a small brush fire, which was quickly extinguished by local fire crews. The plane's value was estimated at $100,000, the report stated.