DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. — A small, single-engine airplane that crashed near the Centennial Airport on Aug. 9 stalled while in flight after it ran out of fuel shortly after takeoff, according to a National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report.
Based on NTSB's examination of the plane after the crash, investigators found that the wing tanks and fuel lines leading to the engine were both empty of fuel. In addition, the fuel system header tank contained about half a pint of fuel, the report reads.
Based on the report, the flight instructor flew with the pilot on July 15 for 1.2 hours as part of a five-hour airplane checkout.
On Aug. 9, the pilot took off in a Cessna 182Q from the Centennial Airport before completing the remaining hours of the airplane checkout, according to NTSB. Nobody else was in the aircraft.
In the report, the airplane owner said, "that he did not know why the pilot was flying the airplane and that the pilot had been checked out in the airplane."
Eric Hurst, public information officer with South Metro Fire Rescue said the plane crashed north of E-470 west of the S. Chambers Road exit, near a FedEx facility just before 1 p.m. The plane went down "a few seconds" after takeoff, Hurst said.
It was a "nose-low, low-speed" impact, the report reads, which is consistent with an "aerodynamic stall."
A witness on the ground said the plane "did not sound right," and was "sputtering" about 150 to 200 feet above the ground, according to the report. The witness said the airplane's nose went down and it crashed into the ground.
The crash remains under investigation. The pilot has not been publicly identified.