Windy conditions were reported the day a Civil Air Patrol airplane crashed near Storm Mountain in Larimer County, killing the pilot and a photographer on board and seriously injuring another passenger.
The Cessna 182T crashed near Drake at 11:15 a.m. Nov. 23, nearly two hours after taking off from Northern Colorado Regional Airport in Loveland to capture aerial photos for Red Cross emergency response planning, National Transportation Safety Board officials wrote in the report released Friday.
Pilot Susan Wolber and photographer Jay Rhoten died in the crash while passenger Randall Settergren was seriously injured.
Settergren told NTSB investigators the group had finished their mission, which included flying large circles over mountain roads and a valley, and he thought they were headed back to the airport when the plane seemed to encounter a downdraft.
Over a few seconds, Settergren recalled the pilot, Wolber, cursing and starting to turn the plane before the aircraft dropped and started hitting trees. The next thing he knew, they were on the ground.
Settergren’s phone registered the impact and automatically called 911, and he was rescued by a helicopter. The flight nurse told him they experienced “winds swirling” during the rescue, according to NTSB officials.
A report from the closest weather station, which was 13 miles away, recorded winds of 7 mph about 20 minutes before the crash.
The plane otherwise operated normally during the flight and there were no radio or distress calls from the pilot, Settergren told investigators.
NTSB officials took the wreckage from the steep slope where it crashed to a secure facility for further investigation.
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