1981 Loveland/Fort Collins Mid Air Collision

[kimlove 0]

On April 17, 1981, there was a mid air collision between an Air US commuter plane and a plane carrying some skydivers. My Mother was one of the passengers on the Air US plane. My son, my daughter and I are creating a memorial for all of those who died in the crash. I have been able to locate family members of seven of the crash victims. Two of the individuals who were crash victims were skydivers Mark Dunkel of Boulder and Steve Johnston of Cheyenne. If anyone happens to know how to locate any members of their families, I would appreciate it if you would get in touch with me of have the family members contact me. My email address is [email protected]. My telephone number is 307-674-7878. The memorial will be a sculpture by artist Richard Greeves called "Bird Woman." It will be on main street in Sheridan, Wyoming and will have the names of all of the victims on a plaque. Thanks for any help you might be able to provide.

[gravitational 0]

Kim -
I'm am passing this along to the Colorado Skydivers email list.

------
Michael

[mdrejhon 8]

Have you contacted John Ezequelle, one of the parachutists that survived -- which might be able to track down some info allowing you to track down the rest of the families -

From link

Quote

John Ezequelle, one of four stunned parachutists who survived a midair plane collision yesterday that left 15 people dead, recalled today that he was sitting behind the pilot of their single-engine Cessna 206 when he saw an Air U.S. commuter plane approaching. ''I had just checked our altitude - we were at 8,000 feet,'' Mr. Ezequelle, who is recovering from ankle surgery at McKee Medical Center here, said today. ''It happened instantly,'' he continued. ''I said something, or started to say something, to one of the other divers. I saw the red and blue of the other plane. It was in a nose-down attitude. I saw the top of the fuselage and the top of the wing. I knew it was going to happen.

Also noticed there's a 1981 CBS archive videotape loan; it might mention more info (although the video segment appears to be less than 2 minutes in length):
http://openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/1981-4/1981-04-18-CBS-6.html

(Info accidentally found in the process of trying to google for a historical 'abstract' describing this collision)

[peckerhead 0]

I made my first jump the same day at Hot Spur Paracenter in Littleton Colorado.

I did not hear about the crash until I got home to my condo in Breckenridge.

My mom was freaked because she assumed I was jumping in Loveland and not Littleton. It was on the national news.

Are you sure about the date? My first jump certificate says it was in March not April. It was a long time ago, maybe my JM was confused. Maybe I am confused.

I worked at Copper mountain as a lift operator when I made my 1st jump and the mountain was closed by mid-April. No snow....

[kimlove 0]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I know it was in April. My daughter had been born on April 1, and my Mother was on her way to spend Easter with us.

[kimlove 0]

Do you know how to reach John Esquevelle? Thanks.

[kimlove 0]

Thanks.

[peckerhead 0]

You know what I have been looking things over here and I think the certificates were filled out the day I went through training. We got weathered out and did not jump. I came back and made my jump a few weeks after.

I found my first log book and it says 4-17-81 signed by c-11707

Wow, sorry it was a long time ago.

[Tonto 1]

I'm moving this to History & Trivia. Maybe some of the old timers can remember this one.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[mdrejhon 8]

Quote

Do you know how to reach John Esquevelle? Thanks.

Unfortunately, no.

However, the spelling is with the letter "z" -- John Ezequelle --

Doing a 411 search in the white pages for "Ezequelle" show only 28 people (http://people.yahoo.com) and 17 people (http://www.whitepages.com) in the United States have listings, so this might make your search easier. There is no "John" listed, so you have to search by last name and try to work your way from that information and cross-reference... to be absolutely sure you have the right household.