ROY -- The Roy City Council chambers were filled with residents wanting answers and solutions regarding the crash Sunday night of a Cessna 210 into a Roy neighborhood.
The plane, coming in for a landing at Ogden-Hinckley Airport in dense fog, clipped a power pole and a tree, resulting in a fire that heavily damaged a home and the garage of another home. The crash was the third plane crash in the area in the past 10 years.
Mayor Joe Ritchie said he and City Manager Chris Davis had met with Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey, Ogden Chief Administrative Officer John Patterson and airport manager Ed Rich earlier in the day and assured residents that all avenues are being pursued.
"You can take that to the bank. We will be there to help," Ritchie said about finding reasonable solutions to make residents feel safer.
Ritchie said the cities are looking at some options, but moving the airport and closing the runway are not among them.
One possibility that does exist is changing the frequency of flights onto that runway, Ritchie said. He noted that on Tuesday the frequency of flights on that particular runway had been reduced.
Rich also said it was a possibility. He will be working with the Federal Aviation Administration to explore options, he said Tuesday afternoon. Neither he nor Godfrey attended Roy's meeting Tuesday night.
Godfrey wants to find some answers and work with Roy to ensure the safety of residents there and of pilots flying into the airport. He said in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon that he is happy to explore options, but that residents should keep in mind human error was the major factor in Sunday's accident. Godfrey said everything was operating properly from the airport's standpoint.
"We can't deny somebody from landing," Godfrey said.
Rich, also in a phone interview, agreed that according to federal aviation guidelines, the airport cannot deny someone from landing, but can request they not land at the airport, which was done that night.
The airport tower was directing flights to the Provo airport, he said. Rich said he doesn't know why the pilot decided to stay the course to the Ogden airport.
"There must have been something going on, because he didn't answer any calls from the (airport) tower."
He said he has not been able to communicate with the pilot yet.
Both Godfrey and Rich said it may be helpful to reduce the frequency of landings, but agreed it wouldn't necessarily have prevented Sunday night's crash.
Runway three, which was being used for the landing, is the runway equipped with the proper lights and the instrument landing system needed to guide planes in fog. It is always the runway planes are directed to during bad weather conditions, Rich said.
Many residents spoke out about the extension made to that runway in 1985, saying they believe it has been the catalyst for the accidents because it lowered the flight zone.
Rich earlier Tuesday said the extension of the runway was minimal when taking into account the length of the runway, and if anything, it made the runway safer. Ritchie explained that to residents Tuesday night, but they had their own take on the runway extension.
Resident Marne Bowden said residents fought the extension in the 1970s and got a 10-year injunction to stop it. When the injunction ran out in 1983, she said, plans to extend the runway picked back up and it was extended in 1985.
Bowden expressed great frustration over the whole situation. She talked about some of Rich's comments and responded to them. "He said he felt the airport was 'pretty darn safe,' but he needs to look at the track record. Three crashes in the same neighborhood is not pretty darn safe."
She also talked about how residents have been told the airport was there before the residents and that the risk goes along with living near an airport -- but she contends it is not the same airport that was there in the 1940s before the homes were built.
"Of all the things you worry about, (planes crashing into houses) should not be one of them. I guarantee there will be another crash, and it will be in my neighborhood."
Resident Dick Shepherd said the focus needs to be on the pilot and who gave him his license. He stated that light plane aviation is not properly regulated in Utah.
Members of the two families whose homes were damaged in the crash -- Darrel and Marie Gamble and Pat and Ned Newman -- attended the meeting and expressed gratitude to the police and fire departments in Roy for their help Sunday night. Nearly everyone else who spoke did the same.
"We think they are the cream of the crop," said Pat Newman, whose roof and part of her home were destroyed.
For the victims, the effects will be felt for some time. Both the Newmans' and Gambles' homes will require extensive repairs, and both families talked about their grandchildren, who were in their homes at the time of the crash.
"It scared them so much," Marie Gamble said after the meeting. "We are glad to be alive, but we do want the problem fixed. This is the second time we have watched a plane crash from our dining room."
Ritchie and council members want to hold a town hall meeting with Ogden officials and Rich to discuss the issues and address unanswered questions from residents. Ritchie wants to do it as soon as more information about the crash is available and viable options can be discussed.
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