Montrose – Levi Hawks’ small, red-brick house shook Monday morning from an explosion that sounded like dynamite.
A single-engine plane had smashed through his trees, clipping his roof and exploding in a fireball as it hit his semi- tractor parked in front of the house.
Prominent Aspen architect David Gibson, 61, was killed in the crash of the plane that he had only recently bought and was learning to fly. Flight instructor Larry Smalley, 65, of Rifle, was also killed, according to Montrose County Coroner Mark Young.
The explosion of the four-seat Beechcraft Bonanza sent a black cloud over this Western Slope town at 10 a.m.
People on the ground in the quiet downtown neighborhood of South Ninth Street barely escaped injury.
Hawks and his wife, Susan, were about to go out to the truck when a phone call delayed them.
“The Lord was watching over us,” he said. “Ten minutes later and I would have been in that truck.”
The truck bore the brunt of the crash, saving lives, police said.
“The truck probably stopped the plane from hitting other houses,” said Montrose Police Department Cmdr. Gene Lillard.
The plane had been doing “stop and gos” – landing, stopping and taking off in training maneuvers – at Montrose Regional Airport.
The plane was based at the Garfield County Airport in Rifle.
Montrose Airport spokesman Jeff Precup said the plane was doing training maneuvers when it crashed.
Precup said the plane was in communication with Montrose airport officials between the first two “stop and gos,” but officials had not communicated with the plane right before the crash. “All indications are we didn’t know there was an issue until the crash,” he said.
Witnesses told police and firefighters that they didn’t hear the plane’s engine before it crashed. Others reported they had heard its engine stall as it flew over the downtown Montrose business district.
The wreckage of the blue-and- white plane was strewn across South Ninth Street, and the fuselage, with the front sheared off, sat near the semi where it had spun around after the impact.
After the crash, the Hawkses and their two sons, ages 17 and 23, ran out a back door.
“I couldn’t believe how much fire there was,” Hawks said. “It was like putting your head in an oven door.”
Wenell Crawford was asleep in her small, green-shuttered house across the street when she was awakened by a loud bang followed by an ear-splitting explosion and smaller pops.
“There was so much fire and smoke. At first, I didn’t see the plane,” said Crawford, whose house was directly in the path of the crash. “I am so glad that truck was there. It would have been horrible.”
Gibson was a member of the the Aspen Art Museum and the Aspen Historical Society, and served on the board of the Aspen Young Life Committee. He designed houses and community buildings such as libraries, according to a résumé that was posted online. His firm also has an office in Telluride.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators said they would have an autopsy by Wednesday.
The plane had recently been sold by Heartland Airplanes of Olathe, Kan., Precup said.
Staff writers Joey Bunch and Manny Gonzales contributed to this report.
Staff writer Nancy Lofholm can be reached at 970-256-1957 or nlofholm@denverpost.com.
