Pilot accused of Hit and run with an airplane
A pilot has been accused of a hit and run after his airplane a Beehcraft Bonanza crashed into a car. Ken and Carol Marcoux said they were watching planes land at the Boulder, Colorado municipal airport on Wednesday morning when they saw a plane suddenly dive down directly at them, the Colorado Daily reported. “He seemed to have real trouble controlling the plane,” Ken Marcoux said. It is believed that strong crosswinds were blowing at the time.
The plane skidded off the runway as it attempted to landing, brushing into the Toyota Prius, smashing a window before taking out a traffic sign and coming to a stop in a field near the airport. What happened next would have been one of the first known aircraft hit and runs. According to witnesses, the 67 year old pilot Joe Curtis wasted no time hanging around. “As soon as he stopped, he couldn’t wait to get out of the plane.”. Ken Marcoux said.
Investigators inspect the damaged Beechcraft Bonanza plane
The pilot took off from the scene without looking back. Another pilot on the airfield tried to get his attention, but he kept running, Marcoux said.
“It’s peculiar, and a bit bizarre,” said Boulder sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Dimo, as a bloodhound trotted with a deputy toward the plane to make an inspection of the aircraft. Both Ken and Carol were unhurt in the accident; however their Toyota Prius was not so lucky. “Quite amazing that it came so close, right here, that I wasn’t decapitated or some horrible thing,” said Carol .
Carol Marcoux, left, talks with state patrol officer Jim Wise about the damage to her vehicle
According to an FAA spokesman with the Northwest Mountain regional headquarters, the pilot has later on contacted the FAA and is expected to meet investigators at the accident site within the hours.
8 Comments
Really nice information about pilot’s activities.
Amazing. I have been flying for over 30 years and have never heard of anything so crazy.
Lou
sounds like an illegal wetback to me.
I saw this story on the news tonight (Denver) and they said that the pilot had his dogs in his car and he was concerned that an investigation might take quite a while (ya think?) and he was worried about leaving the dogs. Really? Yeah… that’s what they reported.
Sounds like a republican in a hurry to drill baby drill
Though it’s very strange, but is the matter of fact. Such things happen very rare or may not. I wonder how the pilot would have managed to turn the things upside down….
This reminds me of something that happened to an Uncle of mine, he was driving along one of those typical English country lanes when he had an accident, he got all the details from the other person and duly sent away the insurance claim…. after the form had been back and forward about 6 times the insurance comapny sent a rep along .
He looked at my Uncle and said ” surely..this cant be right “?…..Uncle looks brieffly at the papers and say’s YES …thats right !” ….rep looks bemused….”WHAT….hit by a low flying aircraft”?
The pilot must have thought he was a ww2 flying ace…until his wingtip went right along the side of my Uncles camper van !
( p.s. The pilot lost his license
)
Seems unlikely that this was a deliberate action on the pilot’s part – as a 35 year aviator and aircraft owner, I can tell you that the airplane is always going to come off worse than the car – airplanes are built of light and thin aluminium and offer minimal occupant protection in such an impact.
Seems more likely the guy somehow lost control or suffered a wind-shear to cause the ‘diving down’ mentioned.