Centennial

[jergar999]

Anyone hear anything on the midair at KAPA? All I've heard so far is there was a Cheyenne going from Jeffco to Centennial, met a Skyhawk (?) in the descent and the whole works went down in a residential area. Best wishes to friends and family.

 

[Drifter]

Three dead. Six ground dwellers injured. Police can't confirm any survivors. I think the Cheyenne crashed into a house the there was some sort of explosion. I live in the same neighborhood and I heard a loud bang but thought nothing of it. Got kinda busy around here all of a sudden. Godbless them.

 

[bobbysamd]

Denver midair

I live in Denver. First I've heard of it was just now. Here's the latest from The Denver Post.

By The Denver Post

Friday, January 24, 2003 - 7 p.m. - A mid-air collision between two light aircraft at about 5 p.m. sent both crashing into a northwest Denver neighborhood, one erupting in flames and the other a crushed mass in a backyard.

Spectators said they heard a faint bang before both planes plummeted from the sky.

From a command center hastily set up at West 26th Avenue and Irving Street, firefighters, paramedics and police scrambled to both accident scenes, separated by some 12 blocks.

Firefighters, finding their way with flashlights, attempted to peel open the cockpit of a twin-engine plane that landed upside down, wedged between a home and a tree in the backyard near West 32nd Avenue and Julian Street at 3400 W. Moncrieff.

“I heard a loud bang and looked out the window. I saw the plane crash,” said Chuck Bolden, who lives near West 29th Avenue and Lowell Boulevard. “There was debris falling everywhere from the sky. A chunk of one of the planes landed a few blocks away.”

A short distance away, near West 26th Avenue and Hooker Street, firefighters battled a blaze that began when the second plane, a Cessna, burst into flames on impact.

One aircraft reportedly was a single-engine Cessna and the other a twin-engine Piper Cheyenne.

No information was immediately available about how many people were on board. Six people were transported to St. Anthony’s Central with minor injuries.

A witness said the twin-engine plane was thrown into a spin from the collision.

Bart Mowroy was driving southbound on Irving when the collision occurred. “It was coming down so fast I could not tell how big (the plane) was. It appeared to be in a flat spin.

“When it hit the ground, it took out power lines. There was an engine in someone’s front yard,” he said. “I saw the fire in the air from the crash, and then I saw it do a flat spin,” said Sarah Buhr-Vogel. “The people in the planes, the people on the ground. It makes your heart (stop).”

Terrible. I grew up in a neighborhood maybe two miles from the crash scene. G-d bless all.

 

[rice]

Latest from Local News

Getting all this from the local TV so take it for what its worth.
The 172 departed from APA enroute to Chyenne, WY. The Cheyenne departed BJC headed to APA. Supposedly both aircraft were "talking to the tower". (Their words not mine) Witnesses report seeing both aircraft spiral to the ground.
The Piper came to rest in inverted in the backyard of a residential neighborhood, the 172 impacted a home approximately 6 to 8 blocks away. Approximately 10 minutes after the crash the 172 and the home exploded into flames. Thats about it from the TV news.
Each station has had their "aviation experts" on for the last two hours, some have done a decent job others have not. It really pisses me off when they start speculating about what happened. Some of the news "talking heads" even started guestimating the fatality count with one radio reporter claiming there may have been 6 persons aboard the 172.
My heart goes out to all the affected families.

 

[avit0r]

Two of my very close friends were flying the Cheyenne. I don't know what else to say right now.

 

[brucek]

I live near Jeffco. The local news has reports that several people were being extricated from the Cheyenne, but these news items are so sketchy right now that this could be wrong. The C172 burst into flames on impact after apparently losing a wing. I did not see this event, this is only from the local news media.

Flying out of Jeffco myself, and from the location (1/2 mile NW of the football field in Denver), that places the impact close to, or just outside, the perimeter of the Class Delta airspace at Jeffco. I'm unsure as to whether tower-to-tower clearances are available from BJC to APA, if so then the Cheyenne was much closer to BJC and may have been under that tower's control still.

This is all from what I have heard on the local news, and may be totally wrong. At the time of day (not long before 1800 local), and with mountain obscuration to the west hiding any sunlight left in the area, visual acquisition from the tower at that distance would be minimal, as far as seperation is concerned.

This is very bad. At least one house fully collapsed on fire when the C172 hit, but luckily no-one was home.

Bruce.
BJC, Jeffco, CO.

Edit: Latest TV news : Looking now at the impact site, it's further away from Jeffco than I first heard, and both aircraft were outside of Jeffco airspace (although I'm not sure if the Cheyenne was talking to Denver TRACON). The C 172 had not filed (VFR nor IFR), although was on a flight over 50 nm at night (APA-CYS). Altitude at impact was 7614', according the the FAA. The area is one popular for circumnavigating the Denver Class Bravo and the adjacent Jeffco Class Delta (for north-south flights). The direction of flight appears to be fractionally east of north (C172) and south (Cheyenne), so both may have been at 7,500' (although this is less than 3,000' AGL, so VFR rules don't necessarily apply).

Bruce.
BJC, Jeffco, CO

 

[bobbysamd]

More

KUSA Channel 9 here in Denver now says four people in all were killed. Three in the aircraft and one on the ground.

Channel 9 reported a few minutes ago that the 172 was apparently on a dual instrument flight. Practice approach to Jeffco. The Cheyenne apparently was being ferried from Jeffco to Centennial.

Sorry to hear about your friends, avit0r. My sympathies.

 

[Joseph II]

So, was the 172 based out of APA? If so, which FBO? It made me sick to hear the news on the radio.

My condolences to the families and friends.

 

[bobbysamd]

More

More from The Denver Post

Fire from the sky
Two small planes collide over northwest Denver; all four aboard are killed
By Sean Kelly
Denver Post Staff Writer

Sunday, January 26, 2003 - Two small planes collided in midair over northwest Denver on Friday evening, killing four people on board, raining debris on a neighborhood and turning a home into a fireball.

The planes - a Piper Cheyenne and a Cessna 172-P Skyhawk - hit at 5:22 p.m. and fell from the sky into the West Highlands neighborhood six blocks apart.

Six people on the ground were taken to St. Anthony Central Hospital with cuts and bruises from shrapnel. It could have been much worse, officials said.

"On the ground, we are real lucky," Police Chief Gerry Whitman said.

Horrified witnesses watched the planes spiral downward.

"I never thought I would see something like that. It takes your breath away. You just think about the people in those planes," said David Zambrano, who watched the crash from his business, Victorian Treasures, near West 32nd Avenue and Lowell Boulevard.

The smaller, single-engine Cessna erupted in flames when it sliced through a home at 3421 W. Moncrieff Place, killing the pilot and a passenger, city Safety Manager Tracy Howard said. The two-story Victorian home was split nearly in half.

As would-be rescuers ran into the home, the flames ignited natural gas. Police and firefighters quickly cleared the area minutes before the home exploded and collapsed around the white-and-blue fuselage of the Cessna.

The owner of the house, Spike Olson, two other people and their dog, Easy, escaped.

Moments after the first plane hit, the larger, twin-engine Piper landed upside-down in the backyard of a home at 3225 W. 26th Ave. Two people were dead inside the flattened plane, police said.

Mayor Wellington Webb heard about the crash while attending a mayors conference in Washington, D.C.

Webb and City Councilman Dennis Gallagher both said Friday night they will ask for investigations into the number of planes flying over the city.

In an eerily similar crash in June 1974, two small planes collided over the western Denver suburb of Wheat Ridge. One plane crashed upside-down in Crown Hill Cemetery, killing four people on board. The other plane made a splash- landing in Sloan's Lake, injuring the pilot and a passenger.

"This is something I will raise both with the Department of Transportation and the National Transportation Safety Board," Webb said. He had hoped to meet with Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta on Saturday.

"We need to find out what happened and make sure it never happens again," Gallagher said.

Webb said many more people could have been killed.

"We are very lucky tonight," he said. "This could have been a much worse catastrophe."

The Cessna Skyhawk carries only four people. The Piper Cheyenne carries up to eight.

Federal Aviation Administration records show the Piper was owned by Lee Larson Aircraft Sales in Northglenn. A man who answered the phone at Larson's business Friday declined to comment.

The Piper Cheyenne was built in 1975 and had been flown about 6,500 hours, according to an advertisement for the aircraft on the Internet. It was described as white with a burgundy, silver and dark blue exterior, a gray leather interior and sheepskin in the front.

The ad said the plane, for sale for $615,000, had no history of damage.

The 1980 Cessna 172-P Skyhawk was rented from Key Lime Flight, based at Centennial Airport.

The pilot received flight training through Key Lime and had rented aircraft from the company before, said Brian Kilburn, director of operations.

He was, Kilburn said, "basically a very thorough, very conscientious pilot.

"We are a little in shock right now. We're all pilots, so we basically lose a family member," he said. "This kind of thing happens, and we're all in the dark until the smoke clears, literally and figuratively."

The Piper was flying from Jefferson County Airport to Centennial Airport, said Arnold Scott, chief investigator of the Denver regional office of the National Transportation Safety Board. It was flying south at the time of the crash, witnesses said.

The Cessna was flying north from Centennial to Cheyenne, Scott said. The aircraft were flying at 7,600 feet when they hit, officials said.

One pilot said the Piper is a low-wing aircraft, and it is difficult for the pilot to see the area below the plane. The Cessna has a high wing, which makes it hard to see what's coming from above.

"But I don't know how they didn't see each other," said Chuck Barnett, a licensed pilot who watched the planes fall to the ground from his home near West 29th Avenue and King Street.

Barnett looked up at the sound and saw the Cessna missing its right wing. The Piper was cartwheeling overhead, he said.

"It was spinning. It looked like a UFO," said Barnett's roommate, Thomas Martinez.

One engine from the Piper landed a block and a half away from where the plane came down, ripping down a power line. About 1,400 houses were without power for about two hours, said Xcel Energy spokesman Mark Stutz. All but 50 of those had power restored about two hours later.

One of the wings came down on Julian Street. Parts of the plane landed on top of Brown Elementary School. Debris littered trees, front yards and streets in the area.

Most of the devastation, however, was caused by the crash of the smaller Cessna. The resulting explosion left neighbors confused and scared.

"What happened?" asked 85- year-old John Burr, who was staggering around in the acrid smoke spilling from the home on Moncrieff.

"The windows rattled. I was just eating lunch," said Burr, who was in his basement apartment at the time of the crash. "I thought upstairs they were having a birthday party. I thought the stove had exploded up there."

Chuck Brown, 27, who lives three doors down, said several people were in the house when someone yelled for them to run. The house was "bulging" and people were screaming just before the explosion, he said.

Brown said he was impressed that so many people tried to help.

"My overall impression was I was impressed that this neighborhood - there's not exactly a strong community thing here - everybody was really on the scene fast," Brown said.

Across the alley, Cindy Kerr was in her bathroom when she heard a big boom. Minutes later, she heard a huge explosion.

"Everything just shook. I sprinted outside. I thought my garage was on fire," said Kerr, 41, a marketing consultant.

The plane had just missed her home. Her neighbors' home was in flames.

"I feel very blessed," Kerr said.

A researcher whose lab studies explosive crashes said planes like the Cessna are more likely to erupt in flames because they're loaded with fuel that burns more easily on impact than turboprops, like the Piper Cheyenne.

Single-engine planes like the Cessna use a high-octane aviation gasoline - much like car drivers - to avoid engine knocks.

"But you're much more likely to have a fire with a plane that's fueled with gasoline," said Joe Shepherd, leader of the California Institute of Technology's Explosion Dynamics Lab.

By contrast, the Piper was powered by jet fuel, or kerosene, which tends to puddle in low-speed crashes. Unless the crash carries enough speed to turn the fuel into a light mist, it tends not to ignite.

"That's one of the reasons why commercial aviation uses kerosene. It is safer than gasoline," Shepherd said.

The Cessna narrowly missed the 12-story Eden Manor Apartments, a senior citizens' home.

"Had the plane struck that high- rise apartment, we could've had many more fatalities," said Fire Chief Rod Juniel.

The pilot of the Piper had no control over the plane if it was in a flat spin, said NTSB investigator Greg Feith. The plane would be incapacitated, and the pilot can't control its movement, he said.

The investigation was turned over to the NTSB by 9 p.m. It could take six months to a year to complete, the NTSB's Scott said.

The city made a reverse 911 call, reaching 7,700 homes in the area with a message in English and Spanish telling residents to contact police if they witnessed the crash and to keep an eye out for pieces of evidence.

There were 250 police officers and 75 firefighters on scene to preserve a six-block crash site, Whitman said. Two large buses took witnesses downtown to police headquarters for questioning.

As the night wore on, dozens of police officers scoured the neighborhood looking for any piece of debris.

"Some of the stuff we found was as small as a bolt, but I know there are large parts out there still," Whitman said. "Certainly don't keep parts as a souvenir."

Hundreds of people poured onto the streets to watch the emergency efforts as helicopters buzzed overhead. Flashing red-and-white police lights lit up snaking fire hoses.

Patrons inside Three Dogs Tavern at West 32nd Avenue and Julian Street watched Whitman on TV while the police chief spoke to cameras outside. Bar manager Adam Rose donated tips to neighborhood victims.

The Red Cross opened an emergency shelter at Highlands United Methodist Church, 3131 Osceola St.

At St. Anthony, Allyn Buchanan, 32, held a bag of ice to the back of her head, where 3 inches of staples held together a wound she received from flying debris when the house exploded on Moncrieff Place.

After the plane crashed into her neighbor's house, she ran out to tell Olson that he could leave his dog at her house. "That's when it exploded, and the house hit me on the head," she said.

 

[bobbysamd]

More (continued)

Buchanan was unable to get home Friday even with a police escort. Her husband, Greg Lilja, 30, was standing at the police barricade hoping to get in so Buchanan could get her diabetes medicine.

Many residents expressed concern about the number of planes flying over the neighborhood on a regular basis. Residents have met with U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, and City Councilwoman Debbie Ortega but said their concerns have never been taken seriously because the FAA controls the airspace, not the city or state.

There also have been complaints about small aircraft buzzing the neighborhood during Denver Broncos games, said Rob Hernandez, a resident and former state senator.

Planes have crashed into Denver neighborhoods at least twice before, including the 1974 crash over Wheat Ridge.

In December 1951, a B-29 bomber from Lowry Air Force Base crashed into the Hilltop neighborhood of east Denver, killing all eight crew members. Five homes were damaged.

The 172 apparently was rented from Key Lime.

Horrible. Once more, my sympathies to all.