DENVER (AP) — Investigators say a pilot who survived a midair collision near Longmont was slowly climbing toward the elevation of the other plane before the crash.

The March 23 collision resulted in the deaths of an instructor and a student pilot in the second plane. The pilot of the first plane was injured when she crashed while trying to land her damaged plane.

A National Transportation Safety Board interim report dated June 29 notes that Federal Aviation Administration handbooks advise pilots to perform periodic maneuvers to scan their planes’ blind spots. The report doesn’t say whether either pilot performed such maneuvers.

The report outlines factual findings of the investigation but doesn’t list the cause.

It says the impact of the second plane’s crash burrowed the engine 2 feet into the ground.

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