Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn June 16, 2021, about 1345 mountain daylight time, a Lancair Evolution airplane, N704AK, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near Parker, Colorado. The private pilot and copilot sustained fatal injuries. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.

Air traffic control (ATC) information showed that the airplane was established on the RNAV (GPS) runway 35R approach to APA about 7 miles south of the airport in visual meteorological conditions when the copilot contacted the tower controller. The controller issued the wind conditions and cleared the airplane to land on runway 35R. The airplane was about 3 miles from the end of the runway when it began turning left and descended. The descending left turn continued to the accident site. When the airplane was about 2.6 miles from the end of the runway, the controller queried the pilot if she was executing a 360° turn, to which the copilot advised that the autopilot had failed. During this turn, the airplane descended below the minimum altitude for that segment of the instrument approach.

Several construction workers near the accident site saw the airplane flying low and its left wing impact powerlines. They described seeing the airplane “explode” after the impacting the powerlines. The airplane came to rest on a hillside. A postimpact fire ensued that consumed most of the composite airplane.
PERSONNEL INFORMATIONThe pilot and copilot were a married couple. According to the couple’s daughter, her mother was the pilot who sat in the left seat and her father was the copilot who sat in the right seat and would assist the pilot and would also perform the various radio calls.

The pilot owned a company that provided training for Lancair Evolution airplanes. The president and chief pilot of the company signed off the pilot to fly the accident airplane. He classified her as a great pilot who had good stick-and-rudder skills, decision-making skills, and instrument flight rules (IFR) skills. He further stated she was one of the best pilots he had trained.

The company training records for the pilot and copilot were not available during the investigation. The chief pilot stated that the pilot and copilot had flown into APA multiple times over the years and were familiar with the airport, the instrument approaches, and the operating area.
AIRCRAFT INFORMATIONThe Lancair Evolution is classified as a high-performance airplane. The airplane was equipped with a primary flight display, a multifunction display (MFD) (including an instrument-certified GPS with traffic and terrain graphics), and a fully integrated autopilot. The builder-developed checklist for the accident airplane was not available during the investigation.

A review of maintenance records showed that paint work was performed on the airframe in June 2019. During this work, it was noted that all flight controls were removed for the paint work. A follow-up entry was noted