NTSB: Pilot May Have Been Avoiding Another Plane Before Deadly Crash
ERIE, Colo. (CBS4)- The National Transportation Safety Board said the pilot in a deadly plane crash in Erie may have been trying to avoid another plane.
The NTSB released a preliminary report on the deadly plane crash which happened in a field on Aug. 31. All five people on board were killed when their Piper PA-46 crash near the runway at the Erie Municipal Airport, north of Denver.
Witnesses told investigators that while the plane was trying to land another plane was taking off. The plane may have crashed while trying to avoid the other plane.
"You don't hear of it very often where you have opposing traffic is what it amounts to, landing, taking off, opposing traffic," said Colorado Pilots Association spokesman Bob Doubek.
Those killed in the crash were pilot Oliver Frascona, 67, his friend Tori Rains-Wedan, 41, and her three children: Mason Wedan, 15, Austin Wedan, and Hunter Wedan, both 11.
Doubek has been flying for 68 years. He said planes coming in for a landing are supposed to broadcast their position.
When asked how frequently the pilot should announce their position, he replied, "Every few miles."
Planes taking off need to broadcast their intentions as well but investigators may never know exactly what was said by the pilots because the Erie Municipal Airport does not have a control tower directing traffic.
"No recording," said Doubek. "No black box and no tower."
The Centennial Airport recently created a new safety rule: all take offs and landing must happen in the same direction.