2 Small Planes Collide in Midair over Colorado, No Injuries Reported

By Aaron Poehler

Published on October 22, 2008

The accident occurred Wednesday morning near Grand Junction, about 190 miles west of Denver, when a Mesa County Sheriff's Department Cessna 210 carrying two inmates, a deputy and a pilot collided with a Cessna 180 carrying a pilot and a single passenger. A Sheriff's Department spokesman stated that at the time of the wreck, the Sheriff's Department plane was transporting the inmates into the custody of the state prison system.

The Sheriff's Department plane was able to make a hard landing at Grand Junction Regional Airport and reportedly suffered damage to its front end, either from the force of the landing or the midair crash. The Cessna 180 was able to make an emergency landing in a remote area approximately 10 miles south of the airport and came to rest on its top.

No possible causes of the crash have yet been reported. A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman stated that FAA and National Transportation Safety Board investigators will conduct interviews with all involved parties along with air traffic control personnel on duty at the time of the accident, and will consider whether bad weather, pilot error, air traffic control, or the flight plans of the planes played into the crash.

 

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