Friday, February 03, 2012

DeRose Learjet crashes at airport - The Pueblo Chieftain: Local News

This morning I awoke to hear news about the big snow storm in the Rockies.  Next thing that was talked about was the flight cancelations and so forth.  Then it was mentioned a private jet had already slid off the runway in Pueblo due to the fierce snow storm.

Pueblo! The sudden adrenaline rush woke me on up, since I was still in bed half asleep. When I hear Pueblo, I think DeRose.

Being the meanie I am, I thought, “Oh, please let that be a DeRose jet.” 

Then the newscaster said, “luckily no one was injured.” Again, being the meanie I am I thought, “dang”. That little devil on my shoulder shows up every now and again, ya know.  (it does for everyone, I just might admit it more…lol)

That was the end of the report and the newscaster moved on.

The devil side of me disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.  I came to my senses and thought, there has to be dozens of private jets in Pueblo.Then, just moments ago a reader sent me a link to the following story!

 

Posted: Friday, February 3, 2012 12:00 am | Updated: 11:37 pm, Thu Feb 2, 2012.

DeRose Learjet crashes at airport By NICK BONHAM | ​nickb@chieftain.com The Pueblo Chieftain | 1 comment

A Learjet carrying members of the prominent Pueblo DeRose family slid off the runway Thursday night at Pueblo Memorial Airport.

No one was injured in the 7:15 p.m. incident.

"Everyone is good. No one's injured, thank goodness," said Dan DeRose, adding that the plane's passengers were mostly family intending to go on a short vacation.

Fire crews and police officers said the DeRoses were headed to Las Vegas to watch the Super Bowl.

Dan DeRose's brothers Mark DeRose, Mike DeRose and father Eddie DeRose, also were on board. Colorado State University-Pueblo's football stadium is named for Eddie DeRose and his wife Neta.

When asked about the condition of the plane, Dan DeRose said, "I think it's wiped out totally. We never got off the ground."

Weather conditions at the time were windy, snowy and slushy.

Mark Lovin, airport director, said the weather did not factor into the accident and the problem may have been mechanical: "It's a very capable aircraft and can fly in these conditions. It suffered some sort of problem, we don't know what that is yet," Lovin said.

Because the aircraft crashed slightly off the runway, it has forced the airport to close until the aircraft and crash scene is investigated by Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board.

The plane was trying to take off to the east and traveled about 2/3 of the way down when it slid off the runway, Lovin said, adding the aircraft was still upright and "mostly intact."

The name of the pilot has not been released. There were eight passengers, all men, and two members of the flight crew on the plane at the time.

DeRose Learjet crashes at airport - The Pueblo Chieftain: Local News