Saturday morning’s mid-air collision of two single engine airplanes involved a training flight, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
During a Saturday night press conference, NTSB air safety investigator Mike Folkerts outlined the known details of the mid-air plane crash that took place just before 9 a.m. that morning two miles south of Longmont near Niwot Road.
“Mid-air collisions are fairly rare but when they occur as this one did, it’s tragic,” Folkerts said.
According to flight records, the solo pilot of a Sonex Xenos departed from Platte Valley Airport in Hudson at 8:38 a.m. Saturday heading west. Folkerts described the type of aircraft as an “experimental amateur-built airplane” with a single engine and low wings.
The Cessna 172 departed from Rocky Mountain Airport in Broomfield on a training flight at 8:43 a.m. Saturday, flying northbound with a flight instructor and student pilot aboard. The Cessna 172 is a single-engine high wing aircraft.
Folkerts did not immediately have the name of the flight school associated with the instructor.
Both planes had climbed to 7,000 feet above median sea level when the Cessna made a 360 degree left turn and began a right turn to the east, Folkerts said, when the two flights collided. They both fell about 2,000 feet before crashing in a rural area, with one plane landing north of Niwot Road and the other landing south of Niwot Road.
Folkerts added that the weather was good at the time of the crash with clear skies, 10 miles of visibility and light winds from the east. Both aircraft were on transponder code 1200, which is the typical code for visual flight rules.
Neither flight was in contact with air traffic control at the time of the accident, nor were they required to be. Neither flight was equipped with collision avoidance or a display to alert them about other aircraft in the vicinity, nor were they required to be.
Folkerts said the NTSB would assess the flight path and viewing angles of the pilots, examine the aircraft with a focus on the electric systems used in the planes and look into the operation backgrounds of the pilots and their flight training experiences. An autopsy and toxicology report were also underway.
NTSB is investigating the flight with the assistance of the Federal Aviation Administration.
“We try to prevent another accident from happening,” Folkerts said of the intention of the investigation.
A preliminary report is expected in two weeks. Witnesses are asked to contact [email protected].
Correction: Rocky Mountain Airport is in Broomfield not Denver.
