Posted on 12/17/2004 4:45:06 PM PST by Denver Ditdat
Three people were reported killed this afternoon when a small plane crashed at Centennial Airport in Arapahoe County, a week after a fatal crash at the same field.
The twin-engine plane went down at about 3:20 p.m.
Authorities at the scene said three people aboard the Cessna 421 were killed in the crash. A woman and two men were reported to have been aboard, said South Metro Fire Rescue spokesman Andy Lyon.
A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said the plane apparently experienced a failure in one of its engines on takeoff and was trying to come back around to land at the airport when the crash occurred.
The plane came down in a grassy area of the Meridian business park at the south end of the airport, a short distance north of the E-470 tollway.
Brett Godfrey, a pilot who witnessed the crash, told 9NEWS that the plane went down at a "high rate of descent" off the south end of Runway 17 Left at the airport, which is a general-aviation facility serving private planes.
Godfrey said the plane burned for about 10 minutes after the crash.
Crumpled wreckage was visible in video shot from Sky9, the 9NEWS helicopter. The tail was the only portion of the plane that appeared to be at least partly intact.
The FAA listed the plane as registered to a Loveland address. The listing said the plane was manufactured in 1968.
The plane had the business name "Mexico Meds Online" on its side, a business with a Loveland address, The Associated Press reported.
Weather was reported to be good at the time of the crash, with light winds.
An FAA investigator was on the scene and officials of the National Transportation Safety Board were on their way.
Centennial Airport is located just north of the Arapahoe-Douglas County line, east of Interstate 25 and north of E-470. It was one of the nation's busiest general-aviation fields.
On Dec. 10, a Mitsubishi MU-2B-60 crashed shortly after takeoff from Centennial Airport, killing the two pilots on board.
Paul Krysiak, 28, of Aurora, was the pilot-in-command of the twin-engine plane. His partner on the flight was James Presba, 25, of Lone Tree, who was a pilot-observer aboard the aircraft.
I always hate to hear about crashes involving engine failure on takeoff. One of the first things one learns as a student pilot is to land straight ahead if that happens. Turing back too often involves a stall/spin scenario. It must be tough to face this situation for real - landing on a smooth paved runway is tempting compared to the alternative.
Prayers to the family and friends of the three souls on board.
"The plane had the business name "Mexico Meds Online" on its side, a business with a Loveland address"
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm-nnnnnnnnnn...
The urge to turn back must be tremendous, because it's the cause of so many crashes. Those turning stalls are deadly at low altitude.
This seems to be a dangerous airport. A friend of mine and two others died there a few years ago. It is not a large airport.........
They forget to turn the right way.
KOA Radio at 7pm, says that one engine quit.
KOA is a Denver Radio Station.
Centennial is, if I remember correctly, the second-busiest GA airport in the nation. Only Teterboro in NJ has a greater volume of traffic.
A freind of mine has done a lot of flying in Idaho, and the pictures she has has to show of some of those back country fields make the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Lots of approaches that have to be made the first time or not at all.
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