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Small plane crashes en route from Eagle County airport to L.A.

ST. GEORGE, Utah – A California man was killed when his small plane crashed as he was flying home from the Eagle County Regional Airport to Los Angeles.

Allen Layton, 48, took off from Eagle County on Saturday morning, headed toward California, said Beaver County, Utah, Sheriff Cameron Noel.

Layton’s plane went off the radar about 4:30 p.m. Saturday as a storm hammered that part of Utah.



Bad weather forced Layton to land in Grand Junction and wait out the storm. He took off again later in the day.

Layton was trying to make the Milford, Utah, airport when his plane went down.

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“Visibility was down. It was pretty bad,” Noel said. “He just got into some bad weather and was attempting to get to the (Milford) airport. Unfortunately, he didn’t make it.”

Search-and-rescue crews found the single-engine, Lancair plane and Layton’s body six miles west of Milford on Sunday afternoon. Saturday’s storm kept crews from searching until Sunday, Noel said.

Layton was the only person aboard.

Lancair planes are aircraft kits. The FAA classifies them as amateur-built experimental aircraft.


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