DE SMET, Idaho – The Benewah County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that a man is dead following a crop dusting plane crash in De Smet on Monday morning.
The victim’s family told 2 On Your Side that the pilot was 57-year-old Gregory Faunce of Tekoa.
Faunce was the owner of an agricultural aviation company.
According to officials, the pilot was spraying when he approached power lines and was unable to move out of the way. His plane got snagged in the lines and wound up in nearby trees, ejecting and killing Faunce in the process.
The accident happened two and a half miles west of the small community of De Smet, Idaho.
As of Monday afternoon, crews were continuing to block off De Smet Road as they worked to fix the downed power lines.
Meanwhile, Faunce’s daughter said he was an amazing pilot and inherited the crop dusting business from his own father.
Faunce would often take one of his many grandkids on plane rides with him.
In a statement, Faunces’s daughter told KREM 2 News “He was active in our lives so much growing up, from coaching our basketball teams to dressing up like Santa Clause for Christmas. We love him very much.”
Faunce’s daughter said his death is hard to come to terms with because he tended to always be aware of his surroundings and taught his family to do the same.
The FAA will be sending investigators to the scene .