Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On August 20, 1996, approximately 1310 mountain daylight time, a Grumman American AA-1B, N6505L, collided with trees while climbing and impacted terrain near Boulder, Colorado. The student pilot and passenger were fatally injured and the airplane was destroyed by the impact and a post crash fire. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the personal flight conducted under Title 14 CFR Part 91. The local flight originated at Boulder, Colorado, on August 20, 1996, approximately 1000.

The Boulder County Sheriff's Office received the first call of a downed airplane approximately 1315. Witnesses reported seeing an airplane matching the description of N6505L prior to the accident (see "Witness Location Map" attached). Witness No. 1 was hiking on Green Mountain approximately the 7,000 to 7,100 foot level. He said the airplane "flew into view from the front (east side) of Green Mountain. The plane proceeded, at an elevation below my position, to fly up Gregory Canyon into the mountains. The plane turned to the north behind Flagstaff Mountain and disappeared below the horizon into Boulder Canyon...The plane that crashed was flying into a headwind at or slightly below the elevation of Flagstaff Mountain (elevation 6,960 feet). I lost sight of the plane when it entered Boulder Canyon...My elevation was above that of Flagstaff (Mountain), so the plane would have to have been down in Boulder Canyon...The plane that crashed was very low...There was no indication of engine trouble or of any other trouble with the flight."

Witness No. 2, who was on Flagstaff Mountain's Range View Trail at the 6,800 foot level, "saw plane fly by at eye level...going west-northwest over Gregory. Plane made no unusual noises."

Witness No. 3, who was working on Fourmile Canyon Road, said he saw "a small, blue, single engine airplane flying in the area. There was nothing unusual about its flight...heading west, normal attitude, at an altitude of about 500 to 1,000 feet above the nearest mountain top."

Two other witnesses reported seeing the airplane crash. Witness No. 4 was riding her bicycle up Fourmile Canyon Road when she heard a "strange" noise, then a loud engine sound above her. She saw an airplane cross 50 feet overhead and 150 feet in front of her, traveling east to west. The engine sounded like it was running. The airplane was traveling parallel to the ground rather than nosediving when it collided with trees below the power lines alongside the road.

Witness No. 5, a 9 year old girl in a nearby cabin, saw "a blue plane out the top window of the cabin with its wings wobbling."

Other nearby residents reported power and telephone outages. It was later discovered three service lines adjacent to the accident site had been severed.

PERSONNEL INFORMATION

The pilot's flight log was not located. According to FAA records, he held a combination Student Pilot/Third Class Medical Certificate No. EE-1211522, d