When I write about my favorite aspects of air travel, I generally end up talking about amazing champagne served inflight, beds that lie all the way flat, or showers in the sky. While those are certainly fun experiences to seek out and relive in a post, in truth, saying those are my favorite aspect of travel is a bit of a lie. My favorite aspect of air travel is that every single time I’ve willingly agreed to shoot myself through the air in a metal tube at 500+ MPH, said metal tube has touched down safely at my intended destination…each and every time.

I spent this past weekend in Breckenridge and decided to use the extra Monday off in one of my favorite U.S. cities, Boulder, Colorado. I was heading east of Boulder a few miles and drove on a country road that runs parallel to Erie Municipal Airport. I was behind the wheel and glanced over to my right at the airport and saw what appeared to be a plane upside down on the runway. I quickly alerted everyone in the car with a disclaimer that I am probably crazy but I think that airplane is upside down on the runway.

It took a couple hours for a local news source to confirm I wasn’t losing my mind, but a small Cessna had in fact flipped over on the runway during take-off due to wind gusts about the same time we drove past the field. Thankfully there were no injuries reported. The NTSB will investigate the accident.

erie-flipped-plane-vo Close up image from CBS

This was my first experience witnessing the aftermath of a plane accident up close and personal. I am extremely glad to hear there were no injuries reported though I must admit the sight was a bit unnerving. After some reflection, this encounter served as a useful reminder of how fortunate I feel to have access to an incredibly safe global air travel network. In this case, I want my First to be my Last.

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  • lu said,

    Cross Wind take-off at the operational max of a 152/172. the pilot should have known better.

  • Teck said,

    “It was an AOPA!”

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