FORT MORGAN, Colo. — The woman who died in a mid-air collision involving two small planes at Fort Morgan Municipal Airport on Sunday has been identified as a retired Air Force captain.
Friends of Kristen (Connell) Morris, 35, of Denver, said she will be remembered for her leadership, positivity and adventurous spirit.
“She knew the risk she was taking with the passions that she had, especially when it came to flying,” said friend Rhoda Bargas.
Morris was an Air Force Wounded Warriors coach who led injured active Air Force members and veterans in events like swimming and volleyball. The team is coping with the loss by supporting one another and remembering Morris’s impact.
“She was doing something she loved, and I will forever remember her as one of the most kind and pure-hearted people I've ever met,” said friend Allison Smith.
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1 dead, 3 injured following mid-air collision at Fort Morgan Municipal Airport
Morgan County Undersheriff Jon Horton said four people were involved in the incident: two people in a Cessna 172 and two people in an Extra EA 300.
The International Aerobatic Club, which hosted the competition in Fort Morgan on Sunday, shared that “the accident happened during final approach following a competition flight.”
Morris was inside the Extra EA 300. The other occupant of the EA 300 was hospitalized with an unknown extent of injuries.
The two people in the Cessna walked away with only minor injuries, according to Horton.
The Morgan County Sheriff's Office initially identified Morris as the pilot. In a correction issued Wednesday, the sheriff's office said that while she was an "experienced pilot," investigators are "not asserting that she was in control of this aircraft at the time of the crash."
Fort Morgan is an uncontrolled airport, which means it does not have a control tower.
Her friends said Morris was an experienced pilot, flying C-130s while in the Air Force.
“She loved riding motorcycles, she loved flying her private plane, she loved volleyball, and all the adaptive sports,” Bargas said. “She loved being with her friends, and she was always smiling and being goofy.”
The FAA and the NTSB are investigating the cause of the crash.
The veterans told Denver7 the loss is particularly tough because the Air Force Wounded Warriors program lost another coach in a separate incident the same weekend.
“We're all here for each other,” Smith said. "That's kind of how we're all getting through it, just trying to focus on the good times that we did have with them.”
