Marble – A single-engine plane crashed on the outskirts of this mountain hamlet Wednesday afternoon, killing the lone person on board and closing the only road in and out of town.
Details as to what may have caused the crash, which was reported at 1:35 p.m., were not available Wednesday evening. A National Transportation Safety Board investigator was heading to the scene.
Vacationers and residents were stranded on either side of a narrow stretch of Gunnison County Road 3 as officials pieced together the events that caused the plane to crash and flip. Officials said they were waiting on word from the NTSB on whether they could move the plane from the road.
The pilot, identified as John P. Kramer, 77, was flying to the nearby Marble Airstrip.
The fixed-wing, single-engine Taylorcraft BC12-D was registered to Kramer of Washington, Mich., Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Mike Fergus said.
Kramer was attempting to land at the 4,600-foot grass airstrip that lies a half-mile west of the town of Marble.
The airstrip, owned by Bob Conger of Denver, is ringed by 13,000- foot peaks on three sides and open for qualified pilots in the summer. Experienced pilots say the landings and takeoffs are relatively easy.
The pilot was attempting to land from the west when he crashed on Gunnison County Road 3, approximately 200 feet from the end of the runway.
Weather conditions were fair and relatively calm at the time of the crash.
Marble is about 120 miles southwest of Denver.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
