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Witnesses saw a single-engine airplane bank sharply before crashing in Broomfield earlier this month as it prepared to land at Erie Municipal Airport, killing two men.

That’s according to a preliminary report on the wreck from the National Transportation Safety Board.

“Multiple witnesses in the area to the south of (the airport) reported seeing the airplane just before the accident,” says the report released last week. “These witnesses reported that the airplane was traveling from west to east at a low altitude. The airplane banked ‘hard’ or ‘steep’ to the north and the nose of the airplane came down or ‘dropped.’ One witness stated that the bank angle was near 90 degrees.”

John Campbell, 58, and Tobias Campbell, 20, died in the crash. Both were from Erie.

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The NTSB says the plane went down in the Anthem Ranch subdivision, less than a half mile from the end of the Erie Municipal Airport’s runway. Gusty winds were reported in the area just before the Nov. 2 crash.


It’s not clear from the NTSB report who was flying the plane, an amateur-built Mustang II.

The plane had departed from the Erie airport earlier in the day.

It can take the NTSB a year or more to issue a final report on a crash.

MORE: Read the NTSB’s preliminary report on the crash

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Jesse Paul

The Colorado Sun — jesse@coloradosun.com Desk: 720-432-2229 Jesse Paul is a political reporter and editor at The Colorado Sun, covering the state legislature, Congress and local politics. He is...