Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn June 8, 2013, about 1050 mountain daylight time, a Piper model PA-28-140 single-engine airplane, N7147R, was substantially damaged during a collision with terrain near the summit of Medano Pass, located within the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, near Mosca, Colorado. The commercial pilot was fatally injured during the accident. One passenger died on June 18, 2013, while being treated for her injuries sustained during the accident. The other passenger sustained serious injuries. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 without a flight plan. Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the pleasure flight that departed Monte Vista Municipal Airport (MVI), Monte Vista, Colorado, about 1015, and was en route to Fremont County Airport (1V6), Canon City, Colorado.

The pilot's son reported that he received a brief phone call from his father at 0954, during which his father told him that he was departing shortly for a flight north of the San Luis Valley, to Salida and Canon City. The pilot's son indicated that his father had flown in the mountains for several years and that it was not uncommon for him to use the Medano Pass to cross over the Sangre De Cristo Mountain Range. He indicated that the Medano Pass, situated at 10,040 feet mean sea level, was the lowest mountain pass in the nearby area that allowed passage to the Wet Mountain Valley on the northeast side of the mountain range.

About 1045, several witnesses, who were located at various positions along the Medano Pass Primitive Road, reported seeing the accident airplane flying low above the tree line (about 100-200 feet above the ground) toward the Medano Pass. The witnesses remarked that the engine was operating normally as the airplane passed over their position at a slow ground speed, but the airplane's wings were banking up-and-down erratically. According to available information, there were no witnesses to the airplane impacting terrain. At 1101, a group of hikers notified local law enforcement of the accident after discovering the wreckage near the Medano Lake Trailhead junction.

The front-seat passenger reported that the purpose of the flight was to fly to Canon City where they intended to inspect and purchase a car. The plan was for the two passengers to drive home in the purchased car and that the pilot would fly back to MVI by himself. The passenger reported that he did not remember a majority of the accident flight, and that his memories were limited to boarding the airplane and the moments immediately preceding the accident. He recalled that he was seated in the forward right seat and that the pilot was seated next to him in the forward left seat. His remaining memory of the accident flight was the pilot announcing that the airplane was "going down" presumably in the moments before the accident. The passenger, who held a student pilot certificate, stated that he di