Witnesses told federal air crash investigators they saw a vintage biplane flying low and slow over Palmer Lake amid strong winds moments before it went down in fiery heap in March 2016, killing both men aboard.

The National Transportation Safety Board, in a factual report on the crash released this month, said witnesses reported the plane looked like it was making a low, scenic pass or possibly attempting to land on the frozen El Paso County lake.

“I didn’t notice any engine trouble or anything like that,” the NTSB report quoted one witness as saying. “… It looked like he was making a scenic pass.”

Dan Murray, 77, and Jeff Caplitz, 60, died when the single-engine 1928 Curtiss Wright Travel Air 4000 crashed on March 2, 2016.

Murray was identified by the NTSB’s report as the plane’s pilot. He had logged more than 5,000 flight hours.

Kaplitz, the passenger, was a pilot too.

Read the full story at denverpost.com. 

A small plane crashed near Palmer Lake. Photo by Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette.