Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On August 22, 1998, approximately 1245 mountain daylight time, a Cessna 175A, N6874E, was destroyed on impact with terrain after takeoff from Tri-County Airport, Erie, Colorado. The private pilot and two of his passengers were fatally injured; a third passenger was seriously injured. The airplane was owned/operated by the pilot under Title 14 CFR Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local personal flight which was originating at the time of the accident. No flight plan had been filed.

Family members reported that the pilot flew in from the Dallas, Texas, area the day before. They further stated that the pilot was taking two of his brothers and the one brother's girlfriend for a local sight-seeing flight at the time of the accident. Witnesses reported seeing the pilot at the auto fuel pumps refueling his airplane (records indicate that he purchased 21.4 gallons of auto fuel), and then taxi to runway 15 (elevation 5,130 feet; density altitude 8,185 feet). One witness stated that "I noted that the plane appeared to be full of people and idly thought that there were a lot of people in that small plane for a hot day."

A witness reported that the airplane "seemed to go beyond the normal lift off area before becoming airborne, perhaps, 750 feet from the end of the runway." Several witnesses reported that the airplane got no higher than 50 feet to 100 feet in the air; they also said that it "wobbled and appeared to be going very slowly." One witness said that "it wasn't gaining altitude and was very flat in its path; it was wavering slightly, side to side." This witness stated that "as it neared the road, it turned to the right, the right wing dropped, and the plane nose-dived into the embankment." He further stated that "before the crash, I didn't notice any strange engine sounds--no sputtering, high pitch, or anything."

A witness sitting in his airplane, on the departure end of runway 15, reported that "the [airplane's] right wing then dropped abruptly and the plane went in to a spin, making about 1/2 turn before impacting the ground in a nose first attitude."

PERSONNEL INFORMATION

The pilot received his private single-engine land license on January 24, 1995, and according to a recent insurance application, he had accumulated an estimated 250 hours of flight experience by the time of the accident. This could not be verified due to the failure of locating the pilot's personal flight logbook. The pilot purchased the airplane on May 29, 1998, and had accumulated an estimated 40 hours of flight experience in it. A witness stated that they had seen the airplane, N6874E, at Tri-County Airport, within the last 4 to 6 weeks.

AIRCRAFT INFORMATION

The airplane was a tricycle landing-geared, propeller-driven, four seat airplane which was manufactured in 1959, and was powered by a carbureted, 6 cylinder, reciprocating, geared engine rated at 175 horsepower. The last annual inspection was performed on