The notification on Jennifer Houghton’s phone didn't look like a typical emergency alert. It was a "crash" notification from a Garmin app, the kind of digital ping that freezes your blood before you even process the words. At first, the Dallas-based influencer—known to millions as the creative force behind Turtle Creek Lane—hoped it was a glitch. Maybe a false alarm from her husband Steve’s phone?
But the GPS signal didn't lie. It wasn't Steve’s phone triggering the alert; it was the transponder from the helicopter belonging to their close friend, Bradford Brown. The icon on the map was stationary, sitting dead-center on the frozen surface of the Ririe Reservoir in Idaho.
What Really Happened with the Steven Houghton Helicopter Crash
On February 20, 2025, around 4:16 p.m., a Bell 505 Jet Ranger X lifted off from the Rexburg-Madison County Airport. On board were two men: the pilot, 59-year-old Bradford Brown, a seasoned aviator and CEO of ATL Technology, and his passenger, Steve Houghton, the 61-year-old Chairman of Houghton Capital.
They weren't on a high-stakes business mission. Honestly, they were just two friends heading out to film a large elk herd near the reservoir. Steve was in the back seat, rigged up in a harness, camera ready to capture the Idaho landscape for his family.
The flight lasted less than thirty minutes.
According to the preliminary NTSB report, the helicopter was cruising about a mile east of the Ririe Dam when the unthinkable happened. Neither man saw the power lines stretched across the frozen lake until they were practically on top of them. In a split-second survival instinct, Brown attempted to "dive underneath" the lines.
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It didn't work. The main rotor blades clipped the wires. The "twang" and subsequent "bang" were heard by a witness on a snowmobile nearby. The aircraft slammed into the ice, coming to a rest with its engine still screaming.
The Miracle on the Ice
Usually, when a helicopter hits power lines and drops onto a frozen lake, there aren't survivors. But Steve Houghton walked away. Well, "walked" is a bit of a stretch—he climbed out of the wreckage unassisted while the engine was still running, suffering from five broken ribs and significant bruising, but remarkably, no life-threatening injuries.
The snowmobiler who heard the crash rushed to the scene. He was terrified the ice wouldn't hold, but he managed to reach the wreckage. He found Steve, helped him, and then climbed a nearby hill to find a cell signal to call for help.
When the call finally reached the Houghton family in Dallas, it was a stranger's voice on the other end. Jennifer’s son, Steven Jr., took the phone. The news was a gut punch: Steve was alive, but Brad Brown—their friend of decades—hadn't made it.
Why the Details of the Crash Matter
There’s been a lot of chatter online about why this specific accident didn't end in a double tragedy. If you look at the mechanics of the crash, Steve’s survival came down to two very specific, almost mundane choices.
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First, he chose to sit in the back left seat. Most people want to be up front for the view, but Steve wanted the angle from the rear to film the elk. That gap between him and the primary impact point was the difference between life and death.
Second, he was wearing a full harness in addition to a seatbelt. In a high-impact "pancake" landing on ice, a standard lap belt often isn't enough to prevent internal organs from being crushed or the head from striking the seat in front. The harness kept him pinned to the frame, absorbing the G-forces that would have otherwise been fatal.
The Investigation and the Power Lines
The NTSB investigation revealed that of the five power distribution lines in the area, the top two had orange visibility marker balls. The lower three did not. One of those lower lines was found fractured on the reservoir.
It’s a classic "wire strike" scenario. Pilots call them "silent killers" because, at certain angles of light or against certain backgrounds—like a white, snow-covered reservoir—wires become effectively invisible until it is too late to maneuver.
Brad Brown wasn't an amateur. He had over 4,200 hours of flight time. But even for an expert, the Ririe Reservoir is a tricky environment. The area was closed for days following the accident because of the downed lines and the instability of the ice, which made recovering the wreckage a logistical nightmare for the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office.
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The Aftermath for the Houghton Family
The Houghtons are a family that lives out loud on social media, but the days following the Steven Houghton helicopter crash were a blur of private grief and "miracles," as daughter-in-law Kimmy Houghton described it. They managed to charter a jet and get to Idaho Falls by 2:00 a.m. the next morning.
Seeing Steve in that hospital bed at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center was a moment of profound relief mixed with the heavy weight of losing Brad. The Browns and the Houghtons had been friends since college.
Steve was eventually discharged and flown back to Texas to recover. He’s a billionaire who built a fortune in self-storage and oil, but in the weeks following the crash, his focus shifted entirely to what he calls his "Five Pillars of Wealth"—specifically the emotional and spiritual ones.
What You Can Learn from This Incident
While most of us aren't flying Bell 505s over Idaho, the "Rich Routines" Steve often talks about in his books actually applied here in a weird, practical way. He’s a guy obsessed with systems and safety. That obsession is likely why he had the harness on in the first place.
If you’re ever in a position of "adventure travel" or private aviation, here are the takeaways:
- Seat Selection: In smaller aircraft, the rear seats are statistically safer during certain types of impacts.
- Harnesses: Never settle for just a lap belt if a four-point harness is available. It’s the single most effective piece of safety gear in a cockpit.
- Tech Safety: Ensure your emergency contacts are actually set up on your GPS and fitness apps (like Garmin). Jennifer knew something was wrong before the police even arrived because the tech worked.
- Low-Level Flight Risks: If you're flying low for photography or "sightseeing," the risk of wire strikes increases exponentially. Always scout the area at a higher altitude first to spot poles, even if you can't see the wires.
The investigation into the final cause will likely take another year or so to wrap up, but for now, the story remains one of a tragic loss of a talented pilot and a "one-in-a-million" survival for a man who literally walked away from the unthinkable.
Next Step: You should check your own emergency "In Case of Emergency" (ICE) settings on your smartphone and any GPS-enabled devices you use for hiking or travel to ensure your family gets notified instantly if a "crash" or "fall" is detected.