Family Wants Airport Shut Down After UPS Pilot Crashes Into Potato Plant

According to accounts, a 30-year-old pilot was killed when her plane crashed into a potato processing factory in Idaho last week, and her grieving family wants the airport permanently closed.

After landing about 8:30 a.m., Brittney Infanger was flying UPS deliveries from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Burley, Idaho, when she crashed into the Gem State Processing factory. Her father told reporters on Wednesday.

When her jet hit the plant at the end of the runway at Burley Airport, Infranger, an 11-year veteran pilot, died instantly.

“That airport must be shut down, period.” “I’m a pilot myself, and many pilots have told me how unsafe the Burley airport is, and how they’ve begged the county to relocate it. They’ve allowed this potato processing plant to continue to expand and this chimney comes up and has a huge amount of steam. If the wind is blowing a certain direction, you fly right into this wall of steam. That was the case that morning,” Jim Bob Infranger, her father, remarked.

A dangerous, unlit, 60-foot-high chimney, according to Jim Bob, runs right down the center of the runway.

The bewildered parent is unsure what caused the incident, but speculates that daughter may have collided with a bird while descending. Her wing may have collided with the chimney, causing the plane to flip, according to the medical examiner.

According to the Heyburn Police Department, the Minidoka County coroner is likely to provide more details about the crash on Thursday or Friday.

The crash is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.

Brittney is the fifth child in a family of seven. At the age of 19, she flew her first solo flight while balancing education and a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

After graduating, she worked as a teacher in Arizona before returning to Idaho to teach flying lessons during the pandemic.