What happened
On the afternoon of the accident, an Air US flight departing from Denver-Stapleton, CO, destined for Gillette, WY, requested and received permission from Denver Center to maintain an altitude of FL130. Simultaneously, a Cessna TU206, registration N4862F, was performing a climbing left turn as part of a racetrack pattern over the Fort Collins/Loveland Municipal Airport area. This aircraft, operated by Sky's West Parachute Center, had been in the air since 15:30 for a scheduled parachute jump mission.
During the climb, the Jetstream struck the Cessna TU206. The number one propeller of the larger aircraft sliced through the rear fuselage of the Cessna, causing both aircraft to lose control immediately. The collision resulted in two fatalities among the skydivers inside the Cessna. While the pilot and three other parachutists managed to exit the wreckage and parachute safely to the ground, the remains of the Cessna crashed into an open field. The Jetstream struck the ground in a near-vertical descent approximately 4,000 feet northeast of the Cessna debris.
Findings
Investigations identified several contributing factors to the collision. A primary cause was the failure of the pilots of both aircraft to maintain visual separation through see-and-avoid procedures. Additionally, the pilot of the N4862F failed to communicate with Denver Center and climbed into controlled airspace above 12,500 feet without the necessary Mode-C transponder authorization. The investigation also noted that Denver Center had a practice of allowing parachute operations above 12,500 feet without proper altitude encoding. Furthermore, existing regulations at the time did not forbid parachute jumping within or near Federal airways.