ROCKWELL AERO COMMANDER 690A, CORTEZ, COLO., JAN. 3, 2004–While circling to land at the Cortez Municipal Airport (CEZ), Aero Commander 690A N700SR–registered to LT Aire and operated by Air West, both of Mesa, Ariz.–was destroyed when it crashed at 12:12 p.m. The sole-occupant commercial pilot was killed. An IFR flight plan had been filed for the Part 91 positioning trip, which was conducted in IMC. The flight originated in Mesa at approximately 10:30 a.m.
The en route portion of the flight was uneventful. At 11:31 a.m., after contacting Denver Center, the pilot–not one of the company’s regular line pilots, but the director of maintenance–was instructed to cross the initial approach fix at or above 12,000 feet and was cleared for the VOR approach to Cortez. The pilot reported passing the CEZ Vortac (the final approach fix) outbound and crossing it again on the inbound. Radar contact was then lost. Two witnesses, a King Air pilot and an airport employee, said they saw the airplane emerge from the overcast, slightly high and fast, and enter a steep left bank. It turned about 90 degrees before disappearing in a snow shower northeast of the airport. They heard no unusual engine noises.
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