Deadly midair collision occurred during Colorado competition honoring pilot who crashed last year
A midair collision between aircraft a week ago happened as one of the planes was competing in an aerial acrobatics event. That competition was renamed in honor of a pilot who crashed nearby a year ago while crop dusting.
News of the Aug. 31 crash -- and realization of the unfortunate irony -- weighed heavily on the hearts of the flying community afterward, particularly those who knew 35-year-old Kristen Morris. Morris was the only person killed in the collision.
Morris was on board an Extra E300 sport plane that had just finished a flight during the competition, according to the International Aerobatic Club (IAC), which sanctioned the competition. Flight maps illustrate the E300 turned sharply to land on runway 14R at the Fort Morgan Municipal Airport. The plane was returning to the same runway it had departed 11 minutes earlier after making two loops around the airport, as the flight maps show.
The Extra collided just short of the runway with a Cessna 172 that had aligned itself for final approach to the same runway much earlier.
Both planes caught fire after the collision and crash.
Morris, according to her social media, was a first officer with Skywest Airlines and a former C-130 pilot with the Air Force. She was based in Washington state.
"Kristen Morris was an absolutely wonderful, warm and accomplished pilot and person," Jeff Baker, the Dust-up event organizer, told CBS Colorado. "In the short time that I knew her she brought light and joy to my heart. I am honored to have known her and deeply mourn her passing like so many others."
The other person on board Morris's plane was David Shangraw, according to the IAC. Shangraw, 39, was taken to a hospital immediately after the crash. He, too, is from Washington, according to public records. Those records show Shangraw is a licensed pilot and flight instructor.
It's not known which of the two people was piloting the E300 at the time of the collision.
Two men were on board the Cessna. Both walked away from the crash with minor injuries.
"The IAC is deeply saddened at the news of a mid-air collision between an Extra aircraft and a Cessna on August 31st at the 2025 Kyle Scott Aerobatic Dust-up (formerly named the High Plains Hotpoxia) aerobatic contest in Fort Morgan, Colorado," the organization stated after the crash.
Kyle Scott lived in Northern Colorado for 15 years and was an operations manager at the Fort Morgan airport. He also owned nine Air Tractors and his own crop dusting business. Scott contributed his time and planes to wildfire firefighting efforts throughout Colorado. The Air Tractors were called 'Single-Engine Air Tankers' in firefighting parlance, or SEATs. Scott was certified to fly multi-engine planes and helicopters as well.
Scott, 52, died Sept. 5 last year near the towns of Hillrose and Snyder, while treating a farm field northeast of Brush. According to a report from the National Transportation Safety Board's accident investigation, the outer right wing of Scott's crop duster clipped a power pole and transformer.
The Fort Morgan Municipal Airport has no control tower and operates as a CTAF (Common Traffic Advisory Frequency) facility, like many smaller or rural airports. Pilots are responsible for one another's situational awareness and use a designated airport radio frequency to communicate their aircraft's type, position, and intentions to one another.
The Cessna is one of two planes operated by the Bell Ornithopters Flying Club, which is based at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Broomfield. The group has not responded to CBS Colorado's inquiries.
The NTSB is still investigating the midair collision. The agency's investigations typically take a year to complete.
Online records indicate the aerobatic competition was first held in Fort Morgan in 2020.