DENVER (AP) – Two small airplanes collided in the air near Denver, leaving one aircraft nearly ripped in half and forcing the other’s pilot to deploy a parachute. Remarkably, both planes landed safely and no one was injured, officials said.
Both planes were getting ready to land at a small regional airport in a Denver suburb on Wednesday when they collided, according to the National Transportation Safety Board and South Metro Fire Rescue.
“Every one of these pilots needs to go buy a lottery ticket right now,” Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Deputy John Bartmann said. “I don’t remember anything like this – especially everybody walking away. I mean that’s the amazing part of this.”
June Cvelbar told the KUSA TV station that she witnessed the collision while walking in a state park.
“I saw two planes in the sky. I saw a larger green plane, which I thought was a tow plane, along with what I thought was a glider being towed by it. I heard a noise but didn’t realize that the two planes had collided, she told KUSA in an email.