Safety, Security, Insurance, Ownership:
a Lack of Accountability

Safety

Pilots in uncontrolled airspace can fly however they like.    And they do.   After six crashes and 10 deaths involving Boulder County in 2022, pilots themselves have literally referred to this region as the Valley of Death.

Recent Boulder County crashes

Between May and September of 2022, in and immediately adjacent to Boulder County there were 6 crashes and 10 deaths. 
May 11, 1 dead: https://www.broomfieldenterprise.com/.../emergency-crews.../
May 22, 2 dead: https://coloradosun.com/.../anthem-ranch-plane-crash.../
July 17, 4 dead: https://coloradosun.com/.../sightseeing-flight-crash.../
Sep 14, Journey's Aviation (Boulder based) flight instructor buzzing Horsetooth Reservoir, crashes: https://www.cbsnews.com/.../pilot-seen-flying-boats.../. No deaths.    The pilot has fled the country.
Sep 14, Broomfield crash, 50 gallons of leaded fuel spilled: https://kdvr.com/.../2-people-survive-small-plane-crash.../ No deaths.
Sep 17, 3 dead in mid-air collision: https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/2-plane-collision-boulder/73-0e00a638-2381-492c-8566-ec487089fd1c

In Feb 2022, the General Aviation Joint Steer Committee (GAJSC) their latest General Aviation Midair Collision Risk report.   It identified regions in Boulder County as risky for mid-air collision.   These are at the edges of DIA's Class B airspace. 

In this figure from the GAJSC report, green represents the collision risk involving the parallel runways at RMMA and purple represents the possibility of a "level flight" collision north of RMMA.  Indeed the Sept mid-air collision resulting in three deaths was in this region.     The two Anthem crashes were also near this area.  The May 11 death was in the green region.

Even though it is illegal, some pilots turn off their identification at times as they use our skies.   There is no enforcement for this infraction.

Security

While the flight schools presumably know who their students are, we groundlings don't know who the pilots are that are using our skies.  We can identify some planes as being from flight schools, so their planes are likely flown by students and instructors.  Otherwise we have little to no information about plane owners, people using the planes, or what their reason is for flying.      We don't know how many flight school students are from overseas.   Anybody could rent or own a plane and fly it for illegal or nefarious purposes.    

Liability insurance: not required

Aircraft owners maintain aviation policies that cover usual items, but generally not damage caused by a renter pilot.   The owner's insurance may pay a claim but then sue the pilot for damages.

Liability insurance for general aviation aircraft owners and pilots is not required.     This has caused enough concern that Congress requested a study by the  US Government Accountability Office regarding whether a Federal requirment was warranted.   The resulting 2015 report found that "the vast majority of states do not have liability insurance requirements for general aviation (GA) aircraft owners and operators (i.e., pilots).  ... Minnesota is the only state that requires almost all GA aircraft owners to have a minimum liability insurance coverage..."

"Some members of Congress and aviation stakeholders have raised questions regarding the lack of such a federal requirement as a result of accidents involving uninsured or underinsured GA aircraft owners and operators where individuals (i.e., passengers and third parties) who incurred losses received little or no compensation from the responsible aircraft owners and operators."

"10 aviation attorneys and representatives from a GA association and an accident victims association we contacted believed that a problem exists, but said they did not know the extent of the problem. As compared to the other aviation stakeholders ..., three aviation attorneys offered a lower estimate—about 50 to 70 percent. A few aviation attorneys we spoke with said that they were aware of accidents where no liability insurance was available to compensate accident victims, but they did not know how many cases like this had occurred. In some instances, the attorneys we spoke with had represented victims or their survivors; three aviation attorneys also mentioned that they had declined to take such a case because there was little chance, given the absence of liability insurance, that the victim could obtain compensation from the GA aircraft owner or his or her estate. Some of these stakeholders pointed to the magnitude of injury that can occur—in the millions of dollars, in some cases—as another indicator of the problem."

Aircraft registration: not verified or transparent

 It is common when researching the owner of a plane to reach a dead end due to obfuscation.  Dead ends include: PO Boxes, vacant buildings, and empty lots.

Congress recognized this too when they requested a GAO study on fraud and abuse in the US aircraft registry.   The registry is managed by the FAA and maintains information on ~300,000 civil aircraft.  The resulting 2020 study, the GAO found:  

"To register civil aircraft, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) generally relies on self-certification of registrants’ eligibility and does not verify key information. According to GAO’s review of the registry process, there are risks associated with FAA not verifying applicant identity, ownership, and address information. The registry is further vulnerable to fraud and abuse when applicants register aircraft using opaque ownership structures that afford limited transparency into who is the actual beneficial owner (i.e., the per sons who ultimately owns and controls the aircraft). Such structures can be used to own aircraft associated with money laundering or other illegal activities (see example in figure). FAA has not conducted a risk assessment that would inform its eligibility review and collection of information to manage risks. Without a risk assessment, FAA is limited in its ability to prevent fraud and abuse in aircraft registrations, which enable aircraft-related criminal, national security, or safety risks."

While all US planes must be registered in this database, they are often not registered to their owners.  It is common for planes to be owned by trustees on behalf of investors, rather like a shell company.   For example, Bank of Utah manages more than 1,390 aircraft trust accounts.  Or entities like a corporation or LLC can obscure ownership.  

Resources

GAJSC mid-air collison report, April 2022: www.gajsc.org/mid-air-collision-report/
Follow up on Horsetooth crash, www.avweb.com/aviation-news/pilot-charged-after-allegedly-buzzing-boats-then-crashing/
Kathryn's report on Horsetooth crash, ​www.kathrynsreport.com/2023_01_30_archive.html
​2015 GAO report on aircraft owner insurance.pdf, www.gao.gov/products/gao-15-740
2020 GAO report, "FAA Needs to Better Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Fraud and Abuse Risks in Aircraft Registration, www.gao.gov/assets/710/706671.pdf
​Why nobody knows anything about that mysterious American plane in Iran, qz.com/200603/why-nobody-knows-anything-about-that-mysterious-american-plane-in-iran
From Utah, Secretive Help for a Russian Oligarch and His Jet, www.nytimes.com/2017/11/06/world/bank-of-utah-leonid-mikhelson.html
Are aircraft "hiding" on U.S. registry?, ​www.bjtonline.com/business-jet-news/are-aircraft-hiding-on-us-registry

Crashes specifically involving BDU and Vance Brand (Longmont)

​https://www.coloradodaily.com/2009/07/30/witnesses-pilot-jumps-from-plane-as-it-crashes-at-boulder-municipal-airport/
https://www.dailycamera.com/2010/02/08/boulder-glider-made-mayday-call-after-deadly-mid-air-crash/
https://www.denverpost.com/2014/10/27/boulder-authorities-one-dead-after-plane-crash-near-municipal-airport/
https://www.timescall.com/2021/07/10/two-people-injured-in-private-plane-crash-at-vance-brand-airport-on-saturday/
https://www.timescall.com/2018/02/16/2-men-hospitalized-following-plane-crash-at-longmonts-vance-brand-municipal-airport/
https://www.denverpost.com/2018/01/13/longmont-vance-brand-municipal-airport-plane-crash/
https://denver.cbslocal.com/2015/06/23/pilot-ok-after-small-plane-flips-over-during-takeoff/

Other Colorado crashes
​
​http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2021/06/piper-pa-28-180-n9277j-accident.html
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/12/us/colorado-planes-collide-trnd/index.html
https://coloradosun.com/2020/06/23/thomas-lawson-plane-crash-loveland-report-ntsb/
https://coloradosun.com/2018/11/12/erie-airport-plane-crash-ntsb-report/
https://coloradosun.com/2018/12/24/map-more-than-70-people-have-died-in-colorado-aircraft-crashes-since-2014-heres-what-the-data-tells-us/
https://abcnews.go.com/US/us-plane-crash-fatalities-increased-2018-ntsb/story
https://guardian.ng/business-services/why-private-jets-have-more-fatal-accidents-than-commercial-planes/