Aspen / Pitkin County Airport in Colorado reopened 7 am January 7 following the crash of a private plane on January 5, according to a statement on the airport website.
RELATED: Aspen / Pitkin County Airport Closed Following Plane Crash
The runway was cleared of wreckage as of 10:00 p.m. Monday night following the fatal accident. Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) arrived in Aspen around 9:30 p.m. Sunday but were unable to investigate the interior of the wreckage until late Monday afternoon. During the day Monday, airport operations repaired damaged runway lights and signage and carefully swept the runway of all remaining debris. There was no significant damage to the runway surface.
When the wreckage was stabilized and deemed safe, NTSB officials boarded the plane and executed components of the investigation which needed to occur before the wreckage could be moved. Two priorities were recovering the cockpit voice recorder, commonly referred to as the black box, and deactivating the emergency locator transmitter (ELT).
At 3 pm January 6, the NTSB held a press conference on the state of the investigation into the crash, which you can view here:
The accident occurred when a private jet on its second landing attempt crashed, slid off the side of the runway, flipped over and burst into flames. Co-pilot Carranza Brabata was killed in the crash, and the pilot, whose identity has not yet been released, suffered serious injuries. Another pilot suffered moderate injuries.
Visit www.aspenairport.com