1 / 3

A Utah County Sheriff's Office emergency volunteer unit sits at the gate of Utah Lake State Park as rescue efforts take place for a plane that crashed into the water on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024.

Curtis Booker, Daily Herald

2 / 3

This undated photo shows Micheal Hyrum Cox, at right in black jacket and sunglasses, the pilot of a plane that crashed into Utah Lake on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024.

Courtesy Utah County Sheriff's Office

3 / 3

This undated photo shows Mark Johnson, the passenger killed Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in a plane crash on Utah Lake.

Courtesy Utah County Sheriff's Office

❮ ❯

New information is emerging detailing the moments that led up to a small plane crash into Utah Lake last month, leaving two men dead.

According to a National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report released Wednesday, the single-engine plane was approaching the Provo Airport on Sept. 27 when air traffic control alerted the pilot about another plane on the runway.

The Utah County Sheriff’s Office said two men from Southern Utah died in the wreck: Michael Hyrum Cox, 43, of St. George and Mark Andrew Johnson, 46, of Washington.

The Cirrus Design Corp SR-22 aircraft, piloted by Cox, came within 200 feet of the other aircraft before trying to turn out of the way, the NTSB report said.

Investigators reviewing the footage discovered air traffic controllers advised Cox to follow the airplane just before them landing on the same runway.

As the SR-22 approached the end of the runway, “the controller told the pilot to go around and that there was an airplane on the runway,” the NTSB report said.

Cox reportedly told air traffic control that he was going to go around since the other aircraft was still in sight.

“The controller asked the pilot if he was able to turn right to the downwind leg, to which the pilot replied he was able to do so,” the report stated.

Airport traffic control surveillance footage showed the first airplane performing a “touch and go” landing. The report said Cox’s plane came into view about 50 feet above ground before veering to the right and going out of view.

According to the report, a witness saw the SR-22 plane “bank sharply then stall” before it spun and fell into the lake.

The small-engine plane became submerged in around 9 feet of water, about 2 miles northwest of the runway.

Murky conditions of the lake initially made recovery efforts difficult, but crews eventually located and recovered the bodies of both men and the aircraft.

The NTSB says the plane was found heavily fragmented, but most of the components of the aircraft eventually were recovered from the water except for both flaps, ailerons and the propeller assembly.