IAC mourns pilot killed in collision during contest
Extra 300 struck Cessna 172 on long final
A Denver flying club's Cessna 172 followed a path coincident with the published instrument procedure into a nontowered Colorado airport on August 31 and collided over the approach end of the runway with an Extra 300 that was returning to land to conclude an aerobatic contest flight over the field.
David Shangraw, who flew in the International Aerobatic Club's 2025 Kyle Scott Aerobatic Dust-up at Fort Morgan Municipal Airport, survived the accident, as did both occupants of the Cessna 172 owned by the Bell Ornithopters Flying Club that departed Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport 57 minutes before the accident. Retired U.S. Air Force Capt. Kristen Morris, 35, was with Shangraw in the Extra and was killed in the accident, possibly the first pilot to die in an aircraft accident during a sanctioned IAC competition.
The IAC, founded in 1970, issued a brief statement grieving the death of Morris, who was remembered by her U.S. Air Force Academy sponsor in an interview with local media as "walking sunshine," an accomplished athlete and motorcycle enthusiast. Morris was one of five siblings, according to the longtime family friend, and served as an Air Force pilot before separating from the service due to a disability. She is pictured in a U.S. Defense Department archive photo accepting a medal during the 2018 Invictus Games.
IAC President Jim Bourke, whose ability to comment on details of the accident is constrained by an ongoing NTSB investigation that is certain to include the actions of various volunteers staffing the contest, added a few additional details in an email, including that Shangraw was flying the Extra and making a contest flight.
ADS-B data transmitted by the two aircraft show the Extra 300 took off in the opposite direction (Runway 32) and soon entered the "aerobatic box" over the airport—a designated airspace in which all contest maneuvers are performed—around the same time the Cessna 172 completed a turn passing the ECUDI waypoint and followed the 12.3-nm final approach course of the published GPS procedure for Runway 14. If the Cessna announced its position that far out, the Extra pilot would likely not have heard that transmission, having at least one radio tuned to the chief judge's frequency before entering the aerobatic box. That frequency is by standard practice separate from the common traffic advisory frequency at the airport. The ADS-B track of the Extra appears to exit the aerobatic box and establish a left downwind for Runway 14 as the Cessna was just over 1 nm from the runway.
The two aircraft were about 1,800 feet apart in the final recorded ADS-B returns, the Extra on a (short) left base and above the approaching Cessna.
Bourke wrote that the two aircraft "collided at a low altitude over the approach end of the runway. From there the aircraft came to a stop together."
Aerial images posted by local media in the aftermath of the accident include a swath of scorched earth surrounding a few identifiable parts of the Cessna, while the Extra had been completely consumed by fire. It is likely that participating pilots and contest officials were among the first to reach the aircraft and assist the occupants.
"As you suggest, accidents at IAC competitions are thankfully very rare," Bourke wrote. "We are very proud of the response of our volunteers. I've talked to many of them and it is abundantly clear that they did everything they could."
NTSB investigators have probably interviewed (or will soon talk to) both occupants of the Cessna, to learn whether they were transmitting and receiving on the CTAF during the final stages of the long approach, what positions they reported, and whether the pilot flying was wearing a view-limiting device while a safety pilot watched for traffic. Review of radio traffic recorded by LiveATC.net on the Denver approach frequency listed on the approach plate included no conversation with the Cessna, though a flight conducting a practice approach under visual flight rules would not be required to communicate with air traffic control. No recorded audio of the CTAF, or of the one or more frequencies used by the contest, was immediately available.
A notam published prior to and in effect during the accident flights advised that aerobatic aircraft would be operating within 2 nm of the airport from the surface to 4,000 feet. Such notams, issued daily during practice and contest flights, are standard procedure associated with the FAA waiver granted to the contest organizers. They typically do not include further details, such as that the 1-kilometer-square aerobatic box can extend below pattern altitude for some competition categories, though Primary and Sportsman pilots (Shangraw among them) are required to remain at least 1,500 feet above the ground while in the box.
FAA Advisory Circular 90-66C on nontowered airport operations recommends against executing a straight-in approach to landing at nontowered airports, though the FAA does not prohibit the practice.
"To mitigate the risk of a midair collision at a non-towered airport in other than instrument conditions, the FAA does not recommend that the pilot execute a straight-in approach for landing, when there are other aircraft in the traffic pattern," the agency notes in the AC, and advises that pilots on an instrument approach "would follow the requirements dictated by the approach procedure." The published procedure in question has no specific instructions on this point.
It is unclear from the ADS-B data if the Extra executed a "belly check" during the base-to-final turn, and this last line of defense could have been rendered ineffective by the relative position, altitude, and proximity of the two aircraft in the final seconds before they collided. Analyzing a 2022 midair collision at a towered airport, former AOPA Air Safety Institute Senior Vice President Richard McSpadden noted that making a continuous base-to-final turn blocks the view of any other aircraft that might be approaching the same runway. "Anytime we engage in extended turns we will benefit from rolling out of the turn at least every 90 degrees to clear our flight path and check for traffic on our 'belly-up' side," McSpadden wrote.
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