The man and 3-year-old who died in a plane crash last week south of Boulder flew around for nearly three hours before the plane went down, according to a preliminary crash investigation report.
Aaron Gingrich, 43, and Isabella Gingrich, 3, took off from Longmont’s Vance Brand Airport about 6:32 p.m. Oct. 4 and flew around northern Colorado before crashing near Eldorado Springs south of Boulder, the National Transit Safety Board’s preliminary report says. They were flying as low as 7,375 feet above sea level in the minutes before crashing, the report says. Both died in the crash.
After taking off, the two flew southwest from Longmont past Boulder while cruising at about 12,000 feet above sea level, turned right and flew 68 miles northwest at about 15,000 feet, before turning around and reaching Boulder again around 8:36 p.m., the report says. Once they reached the Boulder area, the plane was cruising between 11,000 feet and 7,500 feet above sea level, the report says.
At 9:29 p.m., the single-engine Diamond DA40 was about 1 mile north of Eldorado Springs and 7,375 feet above sea level, the report says. Two minutes later, the plane crashed.
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The wreckage lay in mountainous terrain at about 7,360 feet, the report says. Crews found it about 4 miles west of Mountain View Fire Rescue Station 9, an area with elevations roughly between about 6,500 and 7,500 feet, according to a topographical map of the area.
Boulder County Sheriff’s officials learned about the crash at 9:42 p.m. from an alert from the U.S. Air Force Rescue Coordination Center. Crews found the wreckage midday the next day after responders used various aircraft to look for it.
When crews got to the crash site about noon, they did not find any survivors, the post says. There was no fire at the crash site.
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