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The Boulder County Coroner’s Office on Monday identified the three people killed when two airplanes collided mid-air Saturday morning near Niwot Road.
Daniel Wilmouth, 22, Samuel Fisher, 23, and Henry Butler, 69, died when two single-engine airplanes collided mid-air during a training flight just before 9 a.m. Saturday south of Longmont.
The Coroner’s Office is still investigating the cause and manner of death, according to a news release.
Flight records show the pilot of a Sonex Xenos took off from the Platte Valley Airport in Hudson at 8:38 a.m. Saturday heading west. At a news conference following the crash, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Mike Folkerts described the aircraft as an “experimental, amateur-built airplane” with a single engine and low wings.
The other aircraft involved, a Cessna 172, took off from Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport at 8:43 a.m. Saturday and was heading northbound with a flight instructor and student pilot on board, according to the NTSB.
Both planes had reached 7,000 feet of elevation when the Cessna made a 360-degree left turn and began a right turn to the east when the two planes collided, according to Folkerts. Both aircraft fell approximately 2,000 feet before crashing, with one plane crashing north of Niwot Road and one plane landing south of Niwot Road.
Weather was good and skies were clear at the time of the crash, both planes were on the typical transponder code. Neither aircraft contained collision avoidance equipment but they were not required to have it, Folkerts said.
The NTSB will investigate the flight path, viewing angles of pilots, electric systems and pilot backgrounds, Folkerts said. The agency is expected to release a preliminary report in two weeks. Witnesses with information about the crash can contact [email protected].
Staff writer Amy Golden contributed to this report.
