United States: One person dies, the second is fatally burned, and a third suffers a serious injury in a Civil Air Northern Colorado Patrol aircraft crashed on Saturday evening.
The Civil Air Patrol, an auxiliary of the US Air Force that conducts search-and-rescue missions, said the Civil Air Patrol Cessna 182 was flying in a mountainous area of Larimer County for a planned search-and-rescue training flight when it crashed.
More about the news
Larimer County Sheriff’s Office told the media that half an hour after the explosion two of the crewmembers were found lifeless whereas the third one was critically injured and was later airlifted to a nearby hospital.
It is still not clear as to why the crash occurred but the National Transportation Safety Board said in a post on X that the investigation is still going on.
A Civil Air Patrol plane crash in Colorado has killed the aircraft’s pilot and an aerial photographer, authorities say.
— #Trump2024ToSaveAmerica (@JJDJ1187) November 25, 2024
Source: New York Post https://t.co/OB2y0ZaIyZ
What more are the officials stating?
As per the Civil Air Patrol, it’s “deeply saddened” by the crash and it will “cooperate fully” with the NTSB’s investigation.
In a statement, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Major General Laura J. Clellan, the chief of the Colorado National Guard, named the deceased passengers as Susan Wolber, who was the pilot of the plane, and Jay Rhoten, an aerial photographer, while the sole survivor of the incidence, co-pilot Randall Settergren.
Furthermore, the three Civil Air Patrol members has also been “conducting a routine training mission training aerial photography,” Polis mentioned.
Polis added that the three served in the Civil Air Patrol as “volunteers who wanted to help make Colorado a better, safer place for all,” ABC News reported.
“The State of Colorado is grateful for their commitment to service and it will not be forgotten. I also want to thank the first responders who assisted with the rescue and recovery efforts,” Polis added.
Furthermore, “The volunteers of Civil Air Patrol are a valuable part of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, and the lifesaving work they do on a daily basis directly contributes to the public safety of Coloradans throughout the state,” Clellan said.
As the statement from Polis and Clellan noted, the Civil Air Patrol conducts a wide variety of missions, such as “search-and-rescue of lost hikers or hunters, location of downed aircraft, and transport of emergency personnel or medical materials.”
They also “respond to disasters by transporting doctors, firefighters or emergency personnel to the areas in need,” as they mentioned.