Two people are dead and one is injured after a Civil Air Patrol plane crashed in Colorado on Saturday while on a training mission, officials said.
The crash on Storm Mountain, about 80 miles north of Denver, was reported shortly after 11 a.m., the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Saturday night.
Responding deputies found all three people who were on board, with two later confirmed dead, it said.
The plane, out of the Thompson Valley Composite Squadron, crashed in Larimer County while on a routine training mission that included aerial photography, the sheriff’s office said.
Gov. Jared Polis identified the deceased as pilot Susan Wolber and aerial photographer Jay Rhoten. The person who was injured was identified as the co-pilot.
The Colorado Army National Guard airlifted the co-pilot to a medical facility for care, according to Polis. The Larimer County Sheriff’s Office described the survivor’s injuries as “severe.”
Larimer County Search and Rescue also responded and was likely to be on-scene for days directing recovery efforts, the sheriff’s office said. Recovery will take some time because the area is remote and its terrain is rugged, it said.
Polis described those who were on board as volunteers of the Civil Air Patrol “who wanted to help make Colorado a better, safer place for all.”
“The State of Colorado is grateful for their commitment to service and it will not be forgotten,” he said.
Missions conducted by the Air Patrol “range from search-and-rescue of lost hikers or hunters, location of downed aircraft, and transport of emergency personnel or medical materials,” according to the release from Polis and Maj. Gen. Laura Clellan, the Adjutant General for the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
At the time of the crash, the temperature in nearby Fort Collins was about 49 degrees, with calm to 7 mph winds out of the north and 10-mile visibility, according to National Weather Service records.
The National Transportation Safety Board, or NTSB, said the plane was a Cessna 182.
The sheriff’s office will lead the investigation with help from the NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration, it said.
Lindsay Good and Dennis Romero contributed.
