Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On December 25, 2002, at 1006 mountain standard time, a Cessna 421, N421D, piloted by a private pilot, was destroyed when it impacted terrain 1/8 mile west of the Akron/Washington County Airport (AKO), Akron, Colorado. A post crash fire ensued. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The personal cross-country flight was operating on an instrument flight rules flight plan from Englewood, Colorado, to Mitchell, South Dakota, under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91. The pilot and passenger on board sustained fatal injuries. The flight originated at 0933.

At 0959, the pilot reported to the Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZDV) that his left engine had an oil leak and requested to land at the nearest airport. ZDV informed the pilot that AKO was the closest airport and subsequently cleared the pilot direct to AKO.

At 1001, the pilot reported having the airport in sight. ZDV radar showed the airplane in a 3,000 foot per minute descent passing through 17,000 feet mean sea level.

At 1003, ZDV terminated radar service, told the pilot to change to the advisory frequency, and reminded him to close his flight plan.

At approximately 1004, ZDV radar lost contact with the airplane. When contact was lost, the airplane was approximately 3.5 miles southwest of the Akron VOR and 5 miles south of the airport.

At 1016, ZDV contacted Denver Flight Service to ensure the airplane had landed at AKO and the pilot had closed his flight plan. Flight Service said they had not heard from the pilot, but would look into it. At 1023, Flight Service contacted the Washington County, Colorado Sheriff and asked if they could send a car to AKO to see if the pilot was there. At 1029, Flight Service informed ZDV that the sheriff's department said "he ran off the runway and thundered it up a little bit ..."

A witness on the ground observed the airplane come from the north toward the airport. He said the airplane made a sharp right hand turn over a football field and flew west over the old runway. The witness said he saw a vapor trail coming from the right side tail. He said he could hear what sounded like one engine. The witness estimated the airplane was 1,000 feet above the ground.

Two witnesses driving eastbound toward the airport reported seeing the airplane flying westbound. The airplane was then observed to suddenly pitch nose down, "spiral two times, and crash."

PERSONNEL INFORMATION

The pilot held a private pilot certificate with single and multiengine land, and instrument ratings. The pilot's logbooks sustained fire damage in the accident. The information derived from the logbook indicated that the pilot had 1,230.2 total flying hours. The logbook showed the pilot had 1,068.8 hours as pilot-in-command and 252.7 hours in multiengine land airplanes. The logbook also showed the pilot having 21.6 hours in the accident airplane. This time was logged between June 24, 2002, and November