Pilot Killed in Fort Morgan Plane Crash Identified

On Sunday, August 31^st, around 10:44 am, two planes collided mid-air, both apparently on the approach of landing at the Fort Morgan Municipal Airport, north of Fort Morgan. A Cessna 172 and an EA-300, with two people on board each aircraft, crashed after the collision on Sunday morning, killing one person and injuring three. The planes caught fire on the ground, as several civilians tried to keep the fire from spreading, before the fire department arrived. The two people who were in the Cessna suffered only minor injuries and basically walked away from the wreck. One person, the passenger, in the EA-300 received injuries as well and was transported to the hospital. The Morgan County Sheriff’s Office, in cooperation with the Morgan County Coroner’s Office, has released the identity of the other person, who was the pilot of the EA-300, who was killed. That victim has been identified as 35-year-old Kristen Connell-Morris of Denver, Colorado.

Fort Morgan City Manager Brent Nation addressed the tragedy at the recent City of Fort Morgan City Council meeting. As of Tuesday morning, September 2^nd, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) wrapped up its investigation, as a separate company will come out to Bristol Field to clean up the debris from the crash at the north end of the runway and move it to a facility for further investigative purposes. The runway will remain closed until engineers can assess any damage to that section of the runway. It’s possible that it could reopen by Thursday, September 4^th. The NTSB will continue its investigation off-site.