Amspray Sales Corporation

Cessna 303 Crusader

The pilot obtained two weather briefings and filed an IFR flight plan to El Paso, TX. He was not instrument rated. The aircraft departed Englewood at 1959 and disappeared from radar at 2010. The crash site was 11- 1/2 miles southeast of the Kiowa vortac and 36 miles southeast of Englewood. Radar showed a 15-miles wide band of snow showers southeast of the Kiowa vortac. Ground witnesses reported blizzard conditions. Pilot medical certificate stated, 'not valid for night flight or by color control.' Pilot autopsy also disclosed 'myxomatous alteration of the mitral valve, consistent with mitral valve prolapse (floppy mitral valve).' Both occupants were killed.