Plane Crashes At Meadow Lake Airport

A twisted mess of metal is what’s left of a two-seat small plane, which crashed at Meadow Lake airport just before 7:30 Saturday morning.

Chris Heidlebaugh was at the corner of State Highway 24 and Judge Orr Road searching for his lost dog when he saw the tragedy unfold.

“I was sitting here and then I saw an airplane starting to take off,” said Heidlebaugh. “Then all of a sudden the plane veered to the left and it just seemed like it nose-dived really fast.”

A number of pilots and flight instructors like Greg Baker use Meadow Lake airport.

Baker operates what’s called a Pit-Special bi-plane, and he teaches about flight safety daily and even offers flying lessons.

“The biggest thing about flying in Colorado is the altitude,” said Baker. “It’s much thinner air and we’re going a lot faster than our air speed indicates and we have a lot less performance with the planes.”

El Paso County Sheriff’s Office and firefighters from the city of Falcon raced to save the two men after the plane slammed into a nearby hanger.

The sheriff’s office said the passenger was flown by helicopter to a local hospital. The pilot was taken by ambulance.

“It was not during take-off or on landing which is often times the case,” said Lt. Lari Sevene with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office. “They were actually in flight when whatever the malfunction was that caused the plane to make a hard right turn.”

The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.