DENVER — A 32-year-old pilot died when his plane slammed into rugged terrain in northwestern Colorado while conducting a skydiving lesson for a group flying in a World War II-era bomber Sunday, authorities said.
The National Transportation Safety Board has opened an investigation into the accident, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The body of the pilot, who is from Denver, was found after the Cessna 310 slammed into a debris field in Eagle County, about 70 miles south of Grand Junction.
The crew of the single-engine aircraft that was the airplane’s passenger was not injured, according to the FAA and Eagle County Sheriff’s Office.
The Schweizer 307 vintage bomber belonged to Skydive Denver and was being used as a training aircraft.
Skydive Denver confirmed the fatal accident in a written statement, but no other details were released.
The crash comes amid two other plane crashes in the western U.S. while flying near wildfires in recent days.
A private plane carrying 10 people in Wyoming caught fire while flying near a wildfire last week. It slid about 100 feet onto an unpaved area and caught fire. No one was injured.
On Wednesday, a twin-engine Trans World Airlines plane with five people aboard crashed in western Oregon after the pilot reported problems. Two people were killed.