Witnesses Say Plane Wasn't Able To Climb In High Temps

A flight instructor and his student were lost Saturday afternoon, when their light sport aircraft went down on takeoff from an airfield near Erie, CO.

Emmett Murphy, 58, and instructor Matthew Crine, 41 were killed when their Evektor SportStar (type shown below) crashed near Erie Airpark at approximately 1400 local time Saturday. A spokeswoman for the Weld County Sheriff's Department told local media Crine was the flying pilot.

One witness told investigators he saw the plane bank sharply to the right as it took off, before it entered a spin and impacted in a nose-down attitude.

"He just didn't have enough altitude," Dan Wall told KWGN-2. "One moment of inattention is all it takes; you just can't make mistakes and live to tell about it. That's the nature of flying."

Another witness said the pilot may have tried to avoid power lines at the end of the runway.

The Greely Tribune reports two local pilots, who told the paper they fly into the airport often, said it appeared the plane wasn't able to climb out in the 90-degree ambient temparture.

Jennifer Kaiser with National Transportation Safety Board said the investigation is in "a preliminary fact-gathering stage."

IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 616EV        Make/Model: LSA       Description: EVEKTOR AS SPORTSTAR
  Date: 09/15/2007     Time: 1950

  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: Fatal     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Destroyed

LOCATION
  City: ERIE   State: CO   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
  AIRCRAFT CRASHED UNDER UNKNOWN CIRCUMSTANCES NEAR THE DEPARTURE END OF THE
  RUNWAY, THE TWO PERSONS ON BOARD WERE FATALLY INJURED, ERIE, CO

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   2
                 # Crew:   2     Fat:   2     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   

WEATHER: WIND120 AT 10 VIS40 SCT6000 BKN20

OTHER DATA
  Activity: Training      Phase: Unknown      Operation: OTHER

  FAA FSDO: DENVER, CO  (NM03)                    Entry date: 09/17/2007

FMI: www.faa.gov