NTSB Reports Weather Disorientation Caused Pilot To Crash Plane In Lone Tree In 2018
LONE TREE, Colo. (CBS4) - An NTSB report out Tuesday rules that a crash that left a pilot dead and an engine in the side of a Lone Tree home was caused by weather.
67-year-old Robert Marquis was killed when his single-engine Cessna SR22 on May 11, 2018. The plane came down near a neighborhood in Douglas County. The engine from Marquis' plane was lodged in the side of a home. No one on the ground was injured.
Shortly after takeoff that night, Marquis requested to return to the airport. He disappeared off radar and stopped communication with the control tower. Marquis did not file a flight plan, but was en route to Grand Junction for a family event in another state. The tower was in communication with Marquis regarding another aircraft on final approach when communication between the ground and the Cessna went silent. The investigation says Marquis was struggling or did not follow the tower's instructions.
The report also states weather was a factor.
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"Based upon the reported weather conditions, the location and fragmentation of the wreckage, and radar data, it is likely that the pilot experienced spatial disorientation shortly after entering the clouds which resulted in a loss of control and descent into terrain," it states.
No mechanical errors were found, and the plane has just completed an annual inspection.
