ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) – The pilot of a small plane has died after a crash near Front Range Airport in Adams County on Wednesday.

A spokesman for the airport told CBS4 Brian North was the pilot killed when the replica of a British warplane crashed in a field about a mile north of the runway.

North was in his 70s and was a retired airman for the British Royal Air Force.

“He was an extraordinary person and it’s a loss that will really be felt,” Dennis Heap with the Front Range Airport said.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.