Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn September 5, 2015, about 1408 mountain daylight time a Cessna 310H, N1099Q, impacted mountainous terrain near Silverton, Colorado. The private pilot, a pilot-rated passenger, and two passengers were fatally injured. The airplane was destroyed by impact forces. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot as a 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 a personal flight. Instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan had been filed. The pilot was not using air traffic control (ATC) services. The flight departed from Flagstaff Pulliam Airport (FLG), Flagstaff, Arizona, about 1150 and was destined for Tradewind Airport (TDW), Amarillo, Texas.

A fuel receipt from the Big Bear City Airport (L35), Big Bear, California, showed that 20.04 gallons of fuel was purchased for the airplane on September 4, 2015.

The pilot's daughter stated that the airplane was kept at L35 during the summer and afterward at Barstow-Daggett Airport (DAG), Daggett, California. She said that her father departed from L35 on September 5, 2015, about 0615 PDT, and arrived at DAG about 0630 PDT to pick up the passengers. He was then going to fly to Amarillo, Texas, following Interstate 40, where they were going to have dinner and then return the same day. She said that her father did not call her after he refueled and departed Flagstaff and that she called for help on September 6 because she had not heard from him. She said that there was another pilot aboard and that they had a GPS. She said that her father did not know anyone in Colorado or Montana.

A part-time Unicom operator at L35 said that the pilot talked about conducting the flight about 1 week before the accident. The pilot asked "a lot of different pilots to go along as copilot" and asked him to go on the flight. The Unicom operator did not know what time the pilot departed on September 5, but "it was pretty early in the morning" when the pilot left to pick up passengers. The Unicom operator stated that the pilot purchased the airplane "not too long ago," that the airplane radios were "very old," and that the "instruments were not all that good."

The pilot's initial contact with an air traffic control (ATC) facility on the day of the accident occurred during a visual approach to FLG. A rerecording of provided radio transmissions between the pilot and an FLG air traffic controller between 1011 and 1038 follows:

N1099Q: "Flagstaff traffic this is Piper Comanche N1099Z I'm sorry quebec we're approximately thirty miles miles west of the field anybody know what how the weather is down there you socked in there cause we are flying over the top here."

FLG tower: "Comanche 1099Q flagstaff tower we are open. The uh the ATIS is also broadcasting we're 900 broken, 1,600 broken, 2,400 overcast, visibility 10."

N1099Q: "Oh thank you I just turned the ATIS then. I appreciate it thank you Flagstaff."

N1099Q: "Flagstaff tower 1099Q about to land we ar