In sad news out of Idaho, a beloved local reporter who spent decades of his life reporting on the weather, particularly storms and severe weather, tragically died in a plane crash along Idaho’s Payette River on Tuesday, January 27, as was sadly reported by both his station and the local authorities.
The meteorologist who passed away out of the blue at 67. His name is Roland Steadham, and he served as the Chief Meteorologist for CBS2 Boise. He apparently died in a small aircraft crash in the vicinity of the small, Payette River-adjacent town of Emmett, Idaho.
Such is what his station, CBS2 Boise, announced in a statement released via its website, saying, “It is with great sadness that we share that beloved CBS2 Chief Meteorologist Roland Steadham died in a plane crash on Tuesday. He and another person, identified by the Gem County Coroner as Dallin Laufenberg, were on the plane when it crashed on the Payette River near Emmett.”
Later on, after noting that he leaves behind a large and loving family, along with a local community with which he was intimately involved, the station noted that he was an accomplished and respected pilot, saying, “Across the Treasure Valley, Roland was widely respected as an accomplished pilot. He shared his love of flying with the community. Roland operated a small aircraft out of Emmett. It was a hobby he enjoyed and often would share stories about local pilots and their accomplishments.”
Similarly, CBS affiliate KBOI described Mr. Steadham’s career in a short announcement of his untimely death, saying, “For the past decade, Roland Steadham guided people through storm after storm in Idaho. He loved to study the weather and shared it with people across Idaho. Roland’s excitement for the weather was contagious.”
According to the local authorities, the plane in which Mr. Steadham was flying, one registered to a company called Northwest Registered Agent LLC, somehow hit a power line in the vicinity of the Payette River and crashed into an icy section of the waterway as it crashed to the earth. The crash apparently occurred in the vicinity of the river’s Black Canyon.
Upon the occurrence of the crash, first responders in the area, Gem County, responded to the scene. Both the Gem County Sheriff’s Office and Gem County Fire and EMS were involved in the response, and managed to arrive in the vicinity of the crash shortly after it occurred, but were unable to save Mr. Steadham.
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Further, online flight data from the plane has revealed that it crashed merely 12 minutes after departing from the area’s Emmett Airport, which it left at 10:43 am, local time. Authorities confirmed that both Mr. Steadham and the person with whom he was flying suffered fatal injuries from the crash into the icy river.
A GoPro camera was apparently discovered in the wreckage, and is being used to investigate what happened. At this time, however, the authorities have not determined the exact cause of what happened. Vowing to continue investigating in a statement to Fox News Digital, the FAA said, “The FAA and NTSB will investigate. The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide further updates.”
Featured image credit: Roland Steadham Facebook