Kim Johnson, another witness who had been riding his bike southeast of Longmont, emailed 9News today:
“Heard a plane practicing a stall. Looked up, saw two planes. Looked up, one plane, a Cessna Skyhawk, had a wing clipped off it.
It spiraled in to the ground. Another plane circled, seemed to be fine, couldn't see any damage to that plane. ...
“I heard the engine rev on one of the planes. I looked up and I noticed that the one plane was trying to avoid the other plane, but then I noticed that the one wing was gone.”
“I knew what had happened. I believe that somehow there was a collision between the two planes. It's unbelievable that two place could not see each other.”
You left this out....
“Johnson said he believes that one of the pilots chose to “throttle up,” likely to avoid the collision.
Johnson, who has flown in and out Vance Brand Airport for 16 years, said the area is frequently used to practice stalling. Because the Cessna is a “high wing” aircraft and the other plane is a “low wing” aircraft, each has blind spots and that might have led to the accident, he said.
“It’s a scene that plays out between high and low wing a lot. Sometimes you don’t see them at first.”