A pilot was killed Monday when a single-engine plane crashed near Boulder Municipal Airport in Colorado.
The pilot, Steven Moore, was the only person on board when the plane crashed and caught fire as it was taking off on a route from
Boulder to Broomfield, according to CBS Denver.
Moore was a pilot for a regional air carrier and the executive director of the
National Gay Pilots Association, KUSA-TV reported.
"He was always a happy person and always looking on the brighter side of life," friend and fellow pilot Adam Tyler told KUSA-TV. "That was what his focus was on: making the organization and the aviation community better for everyone working and living in it."
Authorities don’t yet know what caused the crash, but say the Mooney M20C plane struck the westbound lane of Independence Road propeller first and caught fire, according to the station.
A man working on gas lines near the runway said the plane
"didn’t sound right" upon takeoff, The Daily Camera reported.
"It was choking and sputtering pretty bad," Jeff Slater told the newspaper. "It sounded horrible."
The National Gay Pilots Association posted a statement about Moore on its website: "Steven, we love you, we will miss you, and we will forever be indebted to you for all of the passion you put into your work for NGPA."
The organization is planning a collage of photos and short stories celebrating Moore’s life in a coming edition of its newsletter,
according to its Facebook page.
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