Federal investigators combed the 1,000-foot-long Douglas County site Sunday where a Littleton executive’s twin-engine Cessna crashed, killing all four people aboard.
Federal investigators and local authorities did not name the four people killed in the Saturday night crash, but the aircraft, a twin-engine Cessna 425, is registered to Littleton businessman Stephan Gavit.
Gavit was returning to Colorado from a fishing trip to Idaho with his grandson and two others, friends and associates said.
On Sunday, family and friends visited the crash site in the meadows south of the airport as investigators sifted through the wreckage.
“I’ve seen plane crashes before,” said Buddy Lewis, plant manager at Gavit’s Accutronics Inc. plant. “But when it is someone you know …”
The crash left the seven-seat airplane crumpled, and fire charred what was left so badly that wire framing was all that was left of seats.
The plane was on approach for landing at the airport on the border of Douglas and Arapahoe counties about 8:10 p.m. Saturday when it went down.
The plane smashed into the ground, bounced, slammed into a hill and burst into flames, leaving a trail of debris, said National Transportation Safety Board investigator Aaron Sauer.
Sauer said it is not yet clear what happened to the plane, but he said it did not hit any nearby power lines.
The investigators would not comment on any radio communication between the plane and the airport tower before the crash.
Sauer said the plane was on the instrument landing system – a computerized guidance device.
Federal investigators plan to test Centennial Airport’s landing system today, Sauer said.
“At this point, nothing that we have indicates it is a dangerous airport,” Sauer said. “It is a busy airport.”
Centennial’s instrument landing system was tested after an MU-2 cargo plane crashed this month south of the airport, killing the pilot. The system was found to be operating properly, according to the NTSB’s lead investigator of the MU-2 crash.
Investigators moved the wreckage of the Cessna to Beegles Aircraft Services near Greeley, where they will continue the investigation.
An autopsy and toxicology test is planned for the pilot. The NTSB plans to put out a preliminary report this week.
Saturday’s crash was the fourth fatal wreck at Centennial since December.
A database review of federal aviation accident data showed that Centennial had more than double the accidents other high-volume general-aviation airports, such as Deer Valley in Phoenix, have had since January 2000.
Greg Feith, who worked for the federal transportation safety board as an investigator before starting his own aviation investigation business four years ago, said the airport probably isn’t to blame.
Feith said that unless a situation such as the airport’s runway lights going out on approach or the control tower losing power and contact with the pilot happened, the airport shouldn’t be faulted.
“People should not have a fear factor that this is going to be an ongoing thing,” Feith said. “It is not necessarily the airport’s fault.”
More than 80 percent of airplane accidents are caused by pilot error, Feith noted.
Investigators will interview control tower staff and review tapes of the conversation between pilot and tower as they unravel the accident, Feith said.
Colorado’s high altitude and weather may contribute to the higher number of reported accidents, said Jeff Forrest, chairman of the aviation and aerospace science department at Metropolitan State College of Denver.
“I don’t know that it is more unsafe, but it is definitely more challenging,” Forrest said of general aviation at high altitude.
High-altitude flight puts more demand on aircraft, which in turn puts more demand on pilots, Forrest said.
Lynn Myers, chairwoman of the Arapahoe County Board of Commissioners and a Centennial Airport board member, said safety is the biggest concern at the airport.
Land use around the airport is carefully planned, Myers said, to avoid building residential neighborhoods beneath approach and departure patterns.
“We work very, very closely with deciding what is going to go in and around the airport, and residential is not a good fit too close,” Myers said. “I think it is something that is ongoing. I think you can always make it better.”
Staff writer Kieran Nicholson can be reached at 303-820-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.
Recent accidents at Centennial Airport
Dec. 10: Two people die in a crash shortly after takeoff in a Mitsubishi MU-2B-60 twin-engine turbo-prop airplane. The pilot radios he was shutting down an engine because of a problem.
Dec. 17: Three people die during an instructional flight after takeoff in a twin-engine Cessna 421. The pilot reports engine trouble.
Jan. 29: A helicopter is damaged after a student pilot fails to execute a rotation maneuver. The helicopter makes a hard landing on the right skid, which collapses, all three rotor blade tips are bent, and the right side of the airframe is damaged in ground strike.
April 16: A single-engine Taylorcraft BC12-D is “substantially damaged” after it goes off the runway and “noses over” during landing. The pilot is not injured.
July 14: A Bellanca 8GCBC is “substantially damaged” when it collides with a portable helipad while taxiing. No one is injured.
Aug. 4: The pilot of a Mitsubishi MU-2B-60 twin-engine turbo-prop airplane dies after the plane drops off radar as it approaches in heavy rain.
Sources: National Transportation Safety Board, Denver Post archives
