Thursday, November 13, 2008

Sad news :(

Carbon County businessman Michael Loveless was killed Nov. 11 when the Cessna 182 he was piloting crashed in the Holy Cross wilderness area near Lake Josephine in Colorado.
In a Wednesday press release, the sheriff's office in Eagle County Colorado reported that the aircraft had been located by a National Guard helicopter about one-tenth of a mile east of the lake.
The location of the lake is about eight miles east-northeast of Thomasville and about 40 miles east of Basalt.
After taking off from Rocky Mountain Metro Airport in Jefferson County on Tuesday at about 2:30 p.m., Loveless' plane fell off of radar screens approximately one hour later.
Search parties on the ground and in the air began to look for the aircraft once officials determined the plane was missing.
According to the Aspen Times, the ground search was halted shortly after noon on Wednesday, apparently due to bad weather. But the sheriff's office later indicated that volunteers from the Vail Mountain Rescue Group and Western Eagle County Search and Rescue were assisting with ground operations.
Reports from the National Guard spotters indicated that they considered the crash "unsurvivable" when they spotted the downed aircraft.
According to the release, the pilot was the plane's only occupant. However, Eagle County law enforcement would not identify the pilot. But the victim's son, Spencer Loveless, confirmed Wednesday afternoon that the plane's operator was his father.
The vaildaily.com website indicated that the crash site was located in a steep wilderness area covered with about 18 inches of snow.
Loveless was a local entrepreneur. He and his wife, Colleen, started Loveless Ash in 1988. The business grew from manufacturing a single vacuum that removed hot coals from a fireplace or stove to a multi-product company.

1 comment:

Katy said...

That is so tragic. My heart goes out to Colleen at this trying time. Thanks for posting the article Jenny!