A well-known Yuma couple, with longtime ties to the Colorado ranching industry, died Sunday when the small plane they were in crashed on its approach to the Yuma Municipal Airport.
Killed were Yuma residents Robert C. Moran and his wife, Dorothy H. Moran, both 71. Also killed was the pilot of the plane, Paul R. Nunn, 63, who was married to Dorothy’s sister, Sharrie.
Friends of the Morans said Monday that the Morans were as nice a couple as could be found.
Dorothy Moran’s parents, Harley and Naomi Chandler, were a pioneer ranching family in the Yuma area.
Both the Chandlers and the Morans were wonderful people, said neighbor and rancher Tom Blach.
“They were good neighbors,” said Blach. “They were good people, good country people.”
They went out of their way to be friendly, he said. You could drop by any time for a piece of pie or ice tea. “You looked forward to seeing them.”
Barbara Noble, who lives across the highway from their ranch, said that Robert and Dorothy grew up in Yuma, where they were high school sweethearts.
“They were wonderful, fun-loving, lots of laughs,” said Noble.
After they married, they moved to Denver and then to California. After Robert Moran retired from a job as a mechanic on heavy equipment, they moved back to Yuma and Dorothy’s family’s ranch.
Noble said the couple had traveled to Pueblo over the weekend to visit family and attend a charity event.
She said the Morans and the Nunns traveled widely throughout the United States in the plane that crashed.
According to Mike Fergus of the Federal Aviation Administration, the aircraft was registered to Nunn, who lived in Pueblo.
The plane crashed at 8:27 a.m. Sunday and hit the ground 100 yards northeast of the airport on private property, he said. It was not on fire before the crash but caught fire and was destroyed by the impact and flames after it hit the ground.
The plane was a four-seat Piper PA-24 Comanche built in 1959.
Fergus said the age of the Pipers does not hamper their airworthiness as long as they are properly maintained. He said there was nothing to indicate that the plane had not been properly maintained.
Fergus said Nunn had talked to air-traffic controllers about 10 minutes before the crash and didn’t indicate any problems.
David Bowling, regional director of the National Transportation Safety Board in Denver, said initial reports indicate the plane went out of control as it approached the airport.
“We are basing that on when it hit, it tumbled and broke, which is an indication that the aircraft wasn’t under control at the time it crashed,” he said.
He said investigators will try to determine the cause, which could include engine failure, a sudden downdraft, incapacitation of the pilot or foggy ground conditions.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
