Flight Details
The pilot obtained two weather briefings and filed an IFR flight plan to El Paso, Texas, despite not holding an instrument rating. The aircraft departed Englewood at 1959 hours and disappeared from radar at 2010 hours. The crash site was located 11.5 miles southeast of the Kiowa vortac and 36 miles southeast of Englewood.
Weather Conditions
Radar indicated a 15-mile-wide band of snow showers southeast of the Kiowa vortac. Ground witnesses reported blizzard conditions at the time of the accident. Official findings described the weather as including high wind, gusts, snow, obscuration, and turbulence, with a dark night light condition.
Medical Certificate and Autopsy
The pilot's medical certificate stated it was "not valid for night flight or by color control." An autopsy disclosed "myxomatous alteration of the mitral valve, consistent with mitral valve prolapse (floppy mitral valve)." Both occupants were killed in the crash.
Probable Cause
The official probable cause comprised three occurrences: an in-flight encounter with weather (including dark night, flight into known adverse weather initiated by the pilot, self-induced pressure, lack of total instrument time, high wind, gusts, snow, obscuration, and turbulence); subsequent loss of control in flight due to spatial disorientation by the pilot; and an in-flight collision with snow-covered terrain during an uncontrolled descent.