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Officials seek cause of Yuma plane crash

By Hector Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published August 26, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Federal investigators were trying to figure out Monday what caused a small plane to crash in heavy fog just east of the Yuma Municipal Airport, killing three passengers.

The Yuma County deputy coroner said the victims were related.

They were identified as Robert C. Moran and his wife, Dorothy, both 71.

The third passenger was Paul R. Nunn, 63, of Pueblo, who is a brother-in-law of Dorothy Moran, a relative said.

Allen Kenitzer, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman, confirmed that Nunn was the registered owner of the Piper PA-24 plane, and authorities believe he was flying the plane when it went down Sunday morning about 100 yards northeast of the airport.

"It doesn't tell you who was flying. It just means he was the owner," Kenitzer said.

The travelers also did not file an instrument flight plan, meaning that air traffic controllers were not assisting the flight, Kenitzer said.

FAA and National Transportation Safety Board investigators were in the beginning stages of probing the crash Monday.

The Morans were raised in Yuma County, which borders the Kansas line, but moved out of state for several years before returning and retiring to their home south of the town of Yuma, said Donna Moran, a sister-in-law of the couple.

Yuma is about 100 miles northeast of Denver.

Robert Moran was an equipment mechanic who worked on heavy machines such as Caterpillar products.

Dorothy Moran had worked as a bookkeeper for a grocery store chain, said Dan Baucke, the deputy coroner.

Federal and local authorities said the aircraft flew early Sunday out of Pueblo - where the plane's owner lived - and the three were heading back to Yuma.

The Morans were visiting relatives in Pueblo, and it appears that Nunn was taking them back to Yuma County, the deputy coroner said.

Sheriff's deputies and witnesses described the conditions around the airport as extremely foggy at the time of the crash. Airport employees called for help shortly before 8:30 a.m. when they saw the plane go down, sheriff's Sgt. Matthew Hardesty said.

"We understand that it was probably weather-related because it was extremely foggy in this area," Hardesty said.