1981 — April 17, Planes Collide, Air US 716 & Sky’s West Parachute, Loveland, CO — 15

–15  Eckert. “Fatal commercial air transport crashes, 1924-1981.” AJFMP, 3/1, Mar 1982, Table 1.

–15  NTSB. Aircraft Accident Rpt. (NTSB-AAR-81-18). Air U.S. Flight 716, HP-137. 1981, p. i.

–15  New York Times. “15 Die in Colorado in Mid Air Collision.” 4-18-1981.

–15  Planecrashinfo.com. 1981. Accident Details. Air US/Private; Loveland Co., 17 Apr 1981.

 

Narrative Information

 

NTSB Synopsis: “About 1601:17 m.s.t., April 17, 1981, Air U.S. Flight 716, a Handley Page HP-137 Jetstream, and a Sky’s West Parachute Center Inc., Cessna TU-256 collided in midair about 2 nmi east-southeast of the Ft. Collins/Loveland Municipal Airport, Loveland, Colorado.

 

“The Cessna had departed from the Ft. Collins/Loveland Municipal Airport on its second parachute jump flight of the day and was climbing through 13,033 feet m.s.l. Flight 716 was en route from Denver, Colorado, to Gillette, Wyoming, cruising at 13,000 feet m.s.l. on an instrument flight rules (IFR) clearance. The two aircraft collided near 13,000 feet m.s.l. and fell to the ground in adjacent large open fields.  Two skydivers in the Cessna were killed during the in-flight collision. The pilot and the three other occupants of the Cessna were wearing parachutes, were able to deploy them as they fell free of the aircraft, and survived with varying degrees of injuries. All 13 persons on board the HP-137 were killed. The weather was clear and the visibility was reported as 60 miles.

 

“The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was the failure of the Cessna pilot to establish communications with the Denver Center and his climbing into controlled airspace above 12,500 feet without an authorized deviation from the altitude encoding transponder (Made-C) requirement, the practice of the Denver Center of routinely condoning Sky’s West parachute jump operations above 12,500 feet without a Mode-C transponder and the failure of the pilots of both aircraft to “see and avoid” each other. Contributing to the accident was the fact that existing regulations do not prohibit parachute jumping in, or immediately adjacent to, Federal airways.”  (NTSB 1981, 1)

 

Planecrashinfo.com: “A midair collision occurred 2 nm east-southeast of Loveland, Colorado at 13,000 ft.. Two killed and 3 injured on the Cessna and 13 killed on the Jetstream. The failure of the Cessna pilot to establish communications with the Denver Center and his climbing into controlled airspace above 12,500 ft without an authorized transponder. Contributing factor was the fact that existing regulations did not prohibit parachute jumping in or immediately adjacent to federal airways.”  (Planecrashinfo.com.)

 

Sources

 

Eckert William G. “Fatal commercial air transport crashes, 1924-1981.” American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology, Vol. 3, No. 1, March 1982 (pp. 49-56), Table 1.

 

National Transportation Safety Board. Aircraft Accident Report. Air U.S. Flight 716, HP-137, N11360, and Sky’s West Cessna TU-206, N4862F, Midair Collision, Ft. Collins/Loveland Municipal Airport, Loveland, Colorado, April 17, 1981 (NTSB-AAR-81-18). Washington, DC: NTSB, Dec 17, 1981. Accessed 5-24-2017 at: http://libraryonline.erau.edu/online-full-text/ntsb/aircraft-accident-reports/AAR81-18.pdf

 

New York Times. “15 Die in Colorado in Mid Air Collision.” 4-18-1981. Accessed 5-24-2017 at: http://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/18/us/15-die-in-colorado-in-mid-air-collision.html

 

Planecrashinfo.com. “1981. Accident Details. Air US/Private; Loveland Co., 4-17-1981. Accessed 5-24-2017 at: http://www.planecrashinfo.com/1981/1981-19.htm