The survivor of a plane crash in southern Colorado that apparently sparked a wildfire tried to rescue the pilot before flames grew too intense.
Custer County Sheriff Fred Jobe said Monday that Dr. Robert Hamilton tried to pull the pilot from the wreckage, although it was unclear whether the man was alive at that time.
Hamilton, who owns a ranch close to where the crash occurred near Wetmore, had to stop as the fire leaped up, and he walked to a neighbor’s house to get help.
Sidney Emmert, an experienced pilot who lived in Oklahoma City and was a friend of Hamilton’s, was killed in the crash, said Custer County coroner Arthur Nordyke.
Hamilton told investigators that Emmert was unconscious after the crash Sunday, and he said Emmert might have been killed on impact, Jobe said.
Federal investigators removed the wreckage Monday.
“There’s still not a good reason why the plane went down,” Jobe said. “The survivor said the plane was running fine.”
After the crash, a friend drove Hamilton to a hospital in Colorado Springs. Jobe said Hamilton was released and is recuperating.
“It’s amazing that he survived with such minor injuries,” Jobe said.
Jobe said that Emmert and another man flew from Oklahoma to visit Hamilton. Jobe said Emmert’s wife made the trip as well, driving from Oklahoma.
Emmert and Hamilton took off from the Fremont County airport Sunday and flew over Hamilton’s ranch, while the third man waited at the airport for the plane to return, Jobe said.
The two men were flying in a vintage Boeing biplane when it crashed 3 miles south of Wetmore, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The Boeing B75N1, built in 1941, is registered to the Quetzal Limited Partnership, which uses the same street address in Oklahoma City that Emmert gives in his pilot registration, according to FAA records. Jobe said Emmert’s wife told investigators Emmert bought the plane about a year and a half ago. Emmert had been flying for about 30 years, Jobe said.
The crash site — in an area near Colorado 96 and Custer County Road 358 — is on National Forest Service land but close to Hamilton’s ranch. Jobe said Hamilton owns several medical clinics in Colorado Springs, and a 2005 article in The Pueblo Chieftain described Hamilton as the chief executive officer of the EmergiCare clinic chain.
The crash apparently sparked a wildfire that was estimated Monday at 150 acres, said fire information officer Gregg Goodland. About 150 firefighters are working on the Mason Fire and have it about 25 percent contained.
“The weather is probably our biggest concern for today,” Goodland said.
No homes have been destroyed, and no evacuations have been ordered, though residents in the Greenwood subdivision have been told to be ready to leave.
Goodland said investigators are trying to determine for certain whether the crash sparked the blaze.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068 or jingold@denverpost.com
