The 67-year-old pilot who died when his plane crashed in Steamboat Springs last month was attempting to make an emergency landing after one of the plane’s engines failed, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board.
Pilot Dan Dunn and his passenger, Jessica Melton, 42, were both killed in the June 17 crash when the Cessna 421 spiraled into the ground just short of the Steamboat Springs runway and caught fire.
The plane crashed into a mobile home park, and the fire it sparked engulfed two homes and several outbuildings, officials have said. No one on the ground was hurt.
Dunn had planned to fly from Longmont to Ogden, Utah, but first reported an issue with his engine temperature while flying near Yampa, according to the NTSB’s preliminary report. He was cleared to land at Steamboat Springs’ airport, but overflew that landing and then requested to land instead at Northern Colorado Regional Airport in Loveland.
As the plane headed toward Loveland, the left engine failed, so Dunn turned back to Steamboat Springs and was cleared to land there, according to the report.
As he made the final turn into the airport’s runway, the airplane entered a “flat spiraling descent,” and hit the ground, the report found. It appeared to impact “in a near horizontal attitude,” the report noted.
The preliminary report did not draw conclusions about what caused the crash. A final report could take up to two years as officials examine the pilot, plane and operating environment.
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