PLANE CRASH NEAR GLENWOOD AIRPORT INJURES TWO
Glenwood Springs—Two men remain hospitalized after their small plane crashed Sunday morning just south of the Glenwood Springs Municipal Airport. The pilot, Benoit Delavaiffiere reportedly suffered head and leg injuries while his passenger with the first name of Dmitri, may have sustained a neck injury when the plane crashed just before 10am while trying to land at the Glenwood airport. According to witnesses, the Cessna 182G was having engine trouble shortly after take off. The plane got about five miles from the airport when it turned around for an emergency landing. The plane crashed near the heavily used Rio Grande Trail forcing authorities to close it until 8 o’clock this morning.
DEADLY DBS HELICOPTER CRASH INVESTIGATION COMPLETED
Silt—Doug Sheffer was well known for his professionalism and unmatched skills flying a helicopter in and around the mountains. Yet, according to the final report from the National Transportation Safety Board, it was inadequate preflight planning that led to the crash near Silt that killed Sheffer and two other men 21 months ago. The NTSB determined that Sheffer, the longtime owner of DBS Helicopters based out of the Rifle-Garfield County Airport, was flying directly into the sun and evidently didn’t see the power line he ran directly into on the morning of January 27th, 2014. Investigators found no signs of mechanical problems or medical issues involving Sheffer. As he often did, Sheffer was flying through the area inspecting power lines near Silt for Holy Cross Energy. Holy Cross employee Larry Shaffer of Rifle was also killed in the crash along with Christopher Gaskill of Aurora.
