Colorado Plane Crash Kills 4 in Chino Family
OURAY, Colo. — Four members of a Chino family were killed when their private plane crashed last week on Whitehouse Mountain near Ouray, about an hour’s drive from the ski town of Telluride.
The victims were pilot Robert R. Ford, 59; his wife, Patricia, 57; son Richard, 36; and Richard’s son, Matthew, 4. Officials had not released the names of the victims, but Laurie LaCuran, Patricia Ford’s niece by marriage, identified them in a telephone interview from her home in Chino.
Family members said they were told severe winds caused the Cessna 210, owned by Robert R. Trucking Inc., to crash near the 13,492-foot mountain Wednesday.
Recovery teams hadn’t been able to reach the bodies, in a ravine about 2,000 feet below the crash site, because of avalanche danger.
The group was on its way to a Colorado mountain home near Elbert that Robert and Patricia Ford visited at least once a month, Terry LaCuran, brother of Patricia Ford, told the Denver Post.
Robert Ford “was an excellent pilot,†LaCuran said Saturday. “He had every instrument in the world on that plane. That plane had just been inspected. It was in perfect condition. There was no pilot error.â€
The plane was not reported missing until the family alerted the Federal Aviation Administration.
Mark Young of the Civil Air Patrol said the search for the plane was not started earlier because the pilot failed to turn in a flight plan.
“This was supposed to be a weekend getaway with Mom and Dad,†Terry LaCuran said of his nephew, his voice breaking. “We had tried to keep positive thoughts.â€
John LaCuran, another family member, was in Colorado trying to put together a recovery team to pull the bodies out of the ravine.
Jagged, steep cliffs and deep snow make traversing the mountain difficult.
“We’re just trying to get over being numb,†Terry LaCuran said. “I was extremely close to my sister. A long time ago, we agreed that if something happened to either of us, the other would help the other’s kids out. That is what I’m trying to do.â€
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