ERIE, Colo. — The Weld County Coroner’s Office released on Monday the identities of the two people killed in a single-engine plane that crashed during an instructional flight near the Erie Municipal Airport earlier this month.
Niles Tilenius, 22, of San Mateo County, California, and William Johnston, 21, of Hillsborough County, Florida, were killed on Oct. 19 when their ultra-light JMB Aircraft went down near the runway.
The aircraft had been performing touch-and-go landings and was on its fifth approach when it entered a nose-low spin and crashed into a grassy area just east of the runway, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board.
Additionally, the NTSB noted that witnesses reported seeing the plane tumbling before impact, and that the airframe parachute system was not deployed.
According to his LinkedIn.com profile, Tilenius was a flight instructor and had recently been accepted into United Airlines’ Aviate Program.
The NTSB’s investigation into the cause of the crash is ongoing.
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