The Latest: Pilot who crashed his own home had hangar code

The Latest on a small plane that crashed into a Utah home:

8/14/18 3:30 p.m. The president of a Utah company whose small plane was used by a man who crashed into his own house says the pilot had access to the plane because he had earned the firm’s trust.

Leon Van Sickle, president of the VanCon, Inc., a general engineering company, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Duane Youd was a “rock-solid” employee during his 13 months as company pilot.

He says Youd had the access code to the airplane hangar, but had no idea he was taking the plane.

Authorities say Youd flew into his house in Payson early Monday. His wife and her 24-year-old son in the home escaped after the two-story house was engulfed in flames.

Authorities had not disclosed how Youd had access to his company’s plane.

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5:00 p.m.

Eric Ortega shot this video of a fire after a small plane crashed into a house in Payson, Utah. He lives about a block away from where the crash happened.Ortega says he was asleep when it happened.

“My mom was the one that heard everything she heard the plane flying really low then it passed again and she heard the crash she woke me up and I went to go investigate,” he said.

He said he heard three explosions when he went to the scene.

11:10 a.m.

Authorities say a man killed after crashing a small plane into a Utah house appears to have intentionally flown into his own home just hours after being arrested on suspicion of assaulting his wife.

Police in the city of Payson, south of Salt Lake City, say Duane Youd’s wife was in the home when the plane hit early Monday but survived.

Sgt. Noemi Sandoval says Youd was arrested Sunday night after witnesses reported seeing him assault his wife in a canyon where they had been drinking. Youd posted bail.

Sandoval says Youd flew a plane that investigators believe belongs to his employer directly into the house about 2:30 a.m. Monday.

The front of the house was engulfed in flames, but his wife and a child got out. Sandoval says it’s unknown if the child is related to Youd.

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6:40 a.m.

A small plane has crashed into a house near the mouth of Utah’s Payson Canyon, and the pilot was killed, according to media reports.

The crash happened about 2:30 a.m. Monday near 600 East Canyon Road in Payson, Fox 13 News reported.

The two occupants of the home reportedly were unhurt. The Utah County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to Fox that the pilot died.

No further details were immediately available.