Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn June 30, 2014 about 0849 mountain daylight time, a Piper PA-28-235, N8814W, impacted mountainous terrain at the Loveland Ski Area near Georgetown, Colorado. The pilot and two passengers were fatally injured. The airplane was destroyed, and a postimpact fire occurred. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot as a 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal cross-country flight which operated without a flight plan. The flight originated from the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (BJC), Broomfield, Colorado, at 0810 and was en route to Moab, Utah.

A customer service manager at the fixed base operator (FBO) reported the pilot in preparing for the flight was looking for information on how to get over the mountains. At that time, there was no one at the FBO who could provide him information on mountain flying, and there was no posted information available. She later heard that the pilot planned to takeoff VFR and fly through the mountains along the interstate.

A line technician reported that he met the airplane when it arrived at BJC on June 27. The line technician helped the pilot and his family with their luggage and drove them to an awaiting family car. Before they left, the pilot did a walk-around inspection of the airplane. When the line technician arrived at the airport on June 30, the pilot had already loaded the airplane. The pilot said they were going to Moab, Utah and planned to stay there a couple of days. Then they were going to fly to the Grand Canyon and spend a couple of days there before continuing to Los Angeles. The line technician said the pilot and his family were in good spirits and were not in a rush to take off. The line technician said he did not see the pilot do a preflight of the airplane but did watch him start the airplane and taxi it to the self-serve pumps. A fuel receipt from the fixed-base operator showed that the pilot loaded the airplane with 57.86 gallons of fuel. The line technician said he had indirectly heard that the pilot intended to take off and fly through the mountains along Interstate 70 to Grand Junction, Colorado.

Radar data showed the airplane departed BJC to the west. At 0814:36 the airplane was at 5,500 ft mean sea level (msl) and transmitting a transponder code of 1200. The airplane then turned south and continued to climb to about 10,400 ft. Once the airplane reached Interstate 70 at Golden, Colorado, it turned west into the mountains. At 0837:25, the airplane passed over Idaho Springs, Colorado, at an altitude of 10,400 ft msl. Radar contact was lost at 0839:35 when the airplane was 9 miles west of Idaho Springs at an altitude of 10,200 ft msl.

Several witnesses saw the airplane as it approached the Loveland Ski Area near Georgetown, Colorado, which is about 20 miles west of Idaho Springs. One witness said he was coming out of the Eisenhower Tunnel heading east when he saw the airplane ban