The pilot in a Monday fatal plane crash near Sheridan, Wyo., had crashed two other aircraft in 2012 and 2016, which led to the revocation of his authorization to fly for the Department of Interior, according to federal court records.
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Earl Palmer, 54, was flying the 1965 single-engine, four-seat Piper airplane when it crashed west of Big Mountain in the Bighorn National Forest around 5 p.m. Monday. Aboard were three members of his family: his wife, 53-year-old Cindy Palmer, his daughter, Amelia Palmer, 13, and his son, Aeron Palmer, 12. Amelia Palmer died at the scene, while her parents were flown to Billings for treatment. Aeron Palmer suffered minor injuries, according to authorities.
The plane was owned by a Sheridan man named Travis Peden, according to FAA records. Peden, according to his LinkedIn page, used to work for Bighorn Airways, Inc., which offers private and contracted flights out of Sheridan.
According to 2024 federal court documents filed in Idaho, Earl Palmer also worked for Bighorn Airways as a pilot.
Those documents detail several close calls for Earl Palmer, including a 2012 incident that had, quote, "the potential for loss of life."
While details surrounding that crash are limited, these documents state Palmer was flying a helicopter for the Department of the Interior out of Boise.
Fast forward to 2016.
Those same documents reference a 2016 aircraft mishap in a fixed-wing plane, which led the Department of the Interior to revoke Palmer's DOI pilot authorization.
Palmer resigned from the department, but applied for his pilot's authorization to be reinstated.
When he was denied, he sued the Department of the Interior, and that case is still ongoing.
The cause of this week's plane crash remains under investigation.
Reporting by Keagan Harsha
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