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Plane broke apart before crashing in Elmore County
– Parts of Comanche found within 1 mile of the crash site –

Katy Moeller
Idaho Statesman
The small plane that crashed in Elmore County Sunday appears to have broken apart in the air, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday.

Craig Jewett, a 41-year-old pilot from Centerville, Utah, was killed in the crash. He was flying back to Utah in a 1965 Comanche he recently bought from a Caldwell man.

NTSB air safety investigator Tom Little said there is no indication so far in the investigation that the plane suffered a mechanical failure.

But pieces of the plane were found up to about 1 mile from the crash site in a remote desert area about 11 miles west of Hagerman in Elmore County.

Little said the wings appear to have broken off the plane in air and so did the tail.

"It happens if a plane is overstressed," Little said.

Little would not speculate on what caused the plane to be overstressed, but said weather did not appear to be a factor in this crash. Investigators are having the plane moved Thursday from the crash site to the Boise area for further investigation, and they expect to finish the layout investigation Friday.

Little said he will release more information about the crash investigation next week.