A small aircraft was successfully removed from the Snake River in Bingham County on Monday morning, roughly 16 hours after authorities say the pilot made an emergency landing and walked away with only minor injuries.
The Bingham County Sheriff’s Office told the Idaho State Journal on Monday that the single-engine, fixed-wing plane went down around 6 p.m. Sunday in the Snake River south of the Rose Road Bridge near the Porterville boat ramp.
The pilot, who was the plane’s sole occupant, suffered non-life-threatening injuries before making contact with nearby residents who provided assistance while emergency responders were contacted and dispatched to the scene, the sheriff’s office said.
Eaton Towing removed the aircraft from the water Monday morning in an operation that began around 10 a.m. and concluded shortly after 11 a.m., according to Bingham County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Jordyn Nebeker.
The plane was located south of the bridge, though authorities are uncertain of its exact landing spot as it could have floated to the location where it was removed from the river, Nebeker said.
Nebeker thanked the Bingham County Search and Rescue volunteers who provided significant assistance during the retrieval operation.
“They definitely helped us out today,” he said.
Preliminary indications suggest the crash may have been related to an instrumentation malfunction, though the Federal Aviation Administration will conduct a full investigation to determine the exact cause, said Nebeker, adding the sheriff’s office contacted the FAA per policy and focused on scene preservation rather than asking detailed questions about the incident.
The Porterville Road Bridge was closed for approximately one hour Monday morning during the removal operation but reopened with no structural damage. The bridge itself was not struck by the aircraft, Nebeker said.
The sheriff’s office declined to release the pilot’s name pending completion of the FAA investigation.
The incident marks the third bridge-related event in Bingham County in recent months. About one mile away from Sunday’s plane crash, two semi-trucks hauling backhoes struck the Porterville Road overpass that crosses Interstate 15 in August, causing severe damage to a girder that required extensive repairs.
Then less than two weeks ago, a milk tanker crashed into a pillar of the same overpass, nearly severing the concrete support and forcing a more than 24-hour closure of that section of Interstate 15 near Blackfoot.
“It’s apparently a bad time to be a bridge in Bingham County,” Nebeker joked, while also expressing gratitude that none of the three incidents resulted in fatalities despite significant inconvenience and repair costs.
“Not one of these incidents resulted in loss of life,” Nebeker said. “This has been a lot of work and logistical challenges for the Idaho Transportation Department and construction crews, but we would take all of this any day of the week rather than knowing someone in our community passed away.”