2 confirmed dead after search locates missing Colorado plane
Authorities searched early Monday morning for a missing single-engine, fixed-wing aircraft that was last detected near Eldorado Springs after takeoff from the Vance Brand Airport in Longmont on Sunday night. On Monday afternoon, authorities said they had located the plane; there were no survivors.
According to investigators in Boulder County, the plane was believed to have taken off from the airport about 6:30 p.m. The Boulder County Sheriff's Office said during a news conference on Monday morning that the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center received an alert about a possible downed aircraft at 9:42 p.m. Sunday. Shortly after, an emergency transponder beacon was detected on radar near the Eldorado Springs area of Boulder County.
"This is a privately-owned aircraft; this is not an Air Force plane," said Vinnie Montez with the Boulder County Sheriff's Office.
First responder crews, fire districts, search and rescue, and Boulder County Open Space crews were dispatched on Sunday night. They searched on foot and used drones. Ground searches were paused overnight due to the rugged terrain. Those searches resumed Monday morning south of the City of Boulder and west of Highway 93, extending to the Continental Divide.
Later, the sheriff's office provided an update announcing that a MedEvac helicopter and the Civil Air Patrol had located the crash site south of the city around 10:15 a.m. The Boulder Emergency Squad team helped locate the site in difficult terrain approximately four miles west of Mountain View Fire Rescue Station 9 and north of Eldorado Canyon State Park, south of the Flatirons.
Rescue crews were able to reach the site around noon, but the two people aboard the plane were both deceased, the BCSO said.
"They did find a single-engine fixed-wing aircraft that had gone down at that location and crashed. They located two parties that were deceased and no survivors on scene," said Montez.
At the height of the operation, Montez said about 40 rescuers and other people were involved. Approximately 20 people remain in the field and will remain working at the site for a while. He said drone operations will continue in the area and asked people to avoid operating their own drones around the site.
"The area where this is located is very rugged and remote," said Montez. "There's still a temporary flight restriction that exists around that area, and that will remain in effect for 24 hours."
Federal Aviation Administration sources told CBS Colorado that the plane's tail number is N-162GL and is registered to Boulder Aviation Partners LLC.
Radio traffic captured a pilot trying to communicate with another plane matching the tail number of the aircraft that crashed but that pilot never responded.
"2 Golf Lima, you up?"
"Hey 2 Golf Lima, thanks so much for cutting us off in the traffic pattern. Appreciate it."
Investigators are taking a closer look at what happened with the unresponsive plane and whether that interaction may provide other clues as to what happened leading up to the crash.
The sheriff's office and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash, and an NTSB team will be on site on Tuesday. At this moment, authorities do not yet know the pilot's intended destination, as they were not required to submit a flight plan.
The Boulder County Coroner's Office will determine the cause of death and release the identity of the two people who died, and Montez said authorities have been in contact with the decedents' family.
