Victims identified in small plane crash near Broomfield
The crash occurred around 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 17, after the Beechcraft Bonanza took off from the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport and immediately tried to return. The plane didn't make it back, crashing just across U.S. Highway 36 and Midway Boulevard from the airport in a Boulder County open space field.
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On Thursday, the two men on board the plane when it crashed were identified as Euguen Knutson, 80, and James Gelaude, 74.
Upon impact, the plane burst into flames. North Metro Fire Rescue crews responded to the scene where the plane was on fire and were able to extinguish the fire quickly.
Mark Daugherty, deputy chief of operations for North Metro Fire Rescue, said Saturday that the crash was a 'tragic incident.'
The airport said that the pilot called Air Traffic Control and reported an issue with a door being open.
'We're going to have to come back and re-land, we've got the door popped open,' one of the plane's occupants can be heard saying on Air Traffic Control recordings.
Air controllers then can be heard giving instructions on which runways were available and where the plane should go to safely land at the airport again. After about 90 seconds, the controllers repeated the information, hoping the pilot heard them.
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Within two minutes of requesting to re-land at the Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, an air traffic controller can be heard making the solemn announcement.
'Tower, that Bonanza just went down north of 36,' someone can be heard saying.
Aviation expert Steve Cowell told FOX31's Nate Belt that what played out on the ATC recording was the right response from both the pilot and tower.
'They know you're in a critical situation, an emergency situation, and they're going to afford you every opportunity to get back to the airport safely,' Cowell said, noting that flying with a door open would be distracting. 'The pilot really has to concentrate on navigating that airplane to where he needs to be to get that airplane back on the ground safely.'
However, he said that's not what brought the airplane down.
'It's noisy in that cockpit, it's disruptive to maybe what you're normally used to, but it's not something that would bring an airplane down,' Cowell said.
Cowell also told Belt that the door opening is not a problem specific to the Beechcraft planes, and that the Federal Aviation Administration would notify pilots of any patterns.
The National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Aviation Administration, Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, Broomfield Police Department and Boulder County Sheriff's Office are investigating the crash.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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