NTSB: Terrain a factor in 2023 fatal plane crash near Apache Junction
Editor’s note: Video attached originally aired June 12, 2023
APACHE JUNCTION, AZ (AZFamily) — A newly released report details what caused a plane to crash into the Superstition Mountains in the East Valley nearly two years ago.
In June 2023, a single-engine Compagnie Daher TB 30 Epsilon crashed into the mountains after taking off from Falcon Field in Mesa. The two people onboard, pilot Simon Nurrish and passenger Stuart Gregory, were killed in the collision.
The report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) detailed that three planes departed after sunrise and were en route to Payson in a flying formation. A pilot who was in the formation noted that Nurrish’s plane was “having difficulty keeping up with the other two airplanes.”
Two pilots reported they struggled with depth perception when flying around the mountains. The third pilot reported that just before the accident, Nurrish’s plane passed under his airplane toward the terrain. According to the report, the nose of Nurrish’s plane pitched up and down several times, but Nurrish didn’t make any calls or report problems.
A homeowner’s security camera captured the moment Nurrish’s plane crashed into the mountain. NTSB investigators say Nurrish may have failed to see “the rising terrain in front of the airplane until there was insufficient time to avoid it.”
A contributing factor to the collision was all three pilots deciding to fly at a low altitude around the mountain, investigators say.
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