The 2 pilots who died in a fiery crash exterior a Colorado airport had been flying a just lately bought home-kit airplane, officers mentioned.
A preliminary probe into the June 23 deaths of pilots Alejandro Antunez, 53, and Lawrence Skinner, 61, discovered that the boys have been flying a industrial, assemble-it-yourself plane when the airplane crashed and burned lower than a mile from the Montrose Regional Airport.
Antunez had just lately bought the “Murphy Moose” float airplane, a Canadian plane touted as an “easy” equipment that comes with pre-assembled components, in line with the Nationwide Transportation Security Board.
“Designed for safety and serviceability, Moose is easy to assemble, inspect and service,” producer Murphy Air states on its web site.
“The Moose is designed for the first time builder. No building jigs required,” the corporate provides.
The airplane that Antunez and Skinner flew didn’t have a present registration with the Federal Aviation Administration, the NTSB discovered.
The federal company didn’t state precisely the place or when Antunez bought the equipment airplane, however officers mentioned the plane was initially put collectively in 2008.
An internet advert for a airplane with the identical tail quantity because the one Antunez flew in was listed on the market till January 2024 in Colorado, the place the 2 males would takeoff from on June 23.
Antunez and Skinner — each from Fort Myers, Florida — had stopped by Montrose to refuel on a visit from Colorado to the Sunshine State.
In the course of the 10 a.m. liftoff, the home-kit airplane didn’t climb or acquire velocity, hovering out-of-control northward from the airport till it struck the embankment of a mud driveway lower than a mile away from the runway, the NTSB mentioned.
The crash prompted the airplane to blow up into an inferno, killing the boys and leaving a charred wreck in its wake.
The NTSB took possession of the wreckage, as investigators are nonetheless figuring out what prompted the deadly crash and whether or not the boys died upon influence.
Officers famous that Antunez was a correctly rated pilot for a single-engine land and sea airplane who additionally had industrial pilot privileges for single-engine sea planes.
Skinner, who was serving because the co-pilot, was employed as a industrial airplane pilot and licensed airplane mechanic on the time of the crash, and he additionally held flight teacher certificates for numerous plane.
