The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
FAA and NTSB to investigate
A Mt. Crested Butte man walked away from a plane crash at Telluride Regional Airport on Sunday, October 13 without injuries, according to the San Miguel Sheriff’s Office.
According to The Watch newspaper, Nordic Inn co-owner John Johnson had just taken off from the airport’s one runway when the Beechcraft Bonanza A36 Turboprop he was flying turned to the southwest and struggled to gain altitude.
The plane hit the ground 200 yards from the end of the runway and slid another 100 yards before crashing into the airport’s perimeter fence, 30 feet from a cliff.
Telluride Regional Airport (TEX) is a small airport situated on a mesa 1,100 vertical feet above Highway 145, which skirts the southern edge of the airport property.
Montrose Daily Press quoted San Miguel Sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Westcott as saying Johnson walked away from the crash without injury. “I’m sure he was pretty shaken up and obviously upset his aircraft was damaged,” Westcott said.
According to the reports, the airplane was damaged extensively, but there was no fire at the scene.
Beechcraft’s Bonanza has been in continuous production longer than any other plane in history, first going on the market in 1947. The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA have been notified of the crash and will conduct an investigation, the reports said.
