Douglas County – A small plane crashed into a pasture just north of Parker on Saturday morning, injuring two and leaving residents shaky over another aerial accident in the neighborhood.
The names and conditions of the two on board were not released. They were taken to Littleton Adventist Hospital with what appeared to be non-life-threatening injuries, said Douglas County sheriff’s Deputy Ron Hanavan.
The single-engine plane had taken off from Everitt Airfield just before 8 a.m. The plane sputtered and struggled to gain altitude, according to witnesses.
It didn’t reach more than 150 feet in the air before it nose-dived into the ground, somersaulted and came to a stop, said Mark Molther, who owns the field in the 11600 block of East Parker Road where the plane crashed. The airstrip sits about 600 yards away.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the accident.
For Molther, this was the second plane from Everitt that has crashed on his property in about six years, he said.
“It’s a very scary thought,” he said. “After, you think, ‘ Oh God, it could have exploded, a fire could have started.’ We say it was a little accident, but it could just as well have been a big one.”
Neighbors of the airstrip said crashes like Saturday’s make them nervous.
The planes that come out of Everitt, a private airfield, fly frighteningly low to the ground, said Lee Arnold, who lives one house over from where the plane went down.
“It’s wicked scary,” Arnold said. “We’re not safe. Maybe this can wake somebody up.”
Planes flying out of Everitt are forced to fly low to avoid the path of planes flying into Buckley Air Force Base, said Susan Bollig, whose family owned the airport until 2001.
“There’s never been a fatality, not in all the years that this airport has been in existence,” she said.
Staff writer Alicia P.Q. Wittmeyer can be reached at 303-820-1316 or awittmeyer@denverpost.com.
