Two northern Colorado men were identified Sunday as the ones killed when their small plane crashed between Loveland and Fort Collins on Saturday night.
Daniel Hardesty, 49, of Loveland and Troy Theodos, 34, of Longmont were the occupants of a plane that appeared to be an ultra-light that went down at 7:23 p.m. Saturday.
The two men were identified through fingerprint comparisons by the Special Processing Unit of the FBI in Clarksburg, W.Va., according to the Larimer County coroner.
Autopsies of both Hardesty and Theodos were scheduled to be conducted today by the coroner.
The plane crashed in an open field one-half mile south of Trilby Road on Larimer County Road 19 about 2 miles west of U.S. 287 in southwest Fort Collins.
Witnesses Bill Waechter and his grandson Trevin Waechter of Loveland told the Fort Collins Coloradoan that they were traveling north on Taft Hill when they saw the plane hit the ground.
The plane appeared to be flying normally until it spiraled straight down and leveled out about 50 feet above the ground, they said.
The plane pulled up slightly and then crashed, Trevin Waechter said.
No structures were near the crash, and no other injuries were reported.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board were at the scene Sunday investigating the cause of the crash.
An ultra-light is a small, lightweight aircraft that usually cannot exceed 45 mph, according to flight experts.
