Posted: 2/14/2026 10:38:42 AM EDT
02.13.26 - Local owner/operator based at JWN in Nashville. Four on board, all perished. The Routt County coroner has identified the four people killed in a plane crash in Steamboat Springs early Friday morning. Aaron Stokes, 47, Jackson Stokes, 21, Colin Stokes, 21, and Austin Huskey, 37, were in a Epic Aircraft E1000 on a final approach to Steamboat Springs Airport, also known as Bob Adams Field, when the plane hit Emerald Mountain just after midnight. Members of the Routt County Search and Rescue team and Routt County Sheriff's deputies recovered the bodies of the deceased early Friday morning. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash. Information from publicly available flight data shows the plane crashed into Emerald Mountain at an elevation of 8,000 ft. The plane took off from Nashville before landing in Kansas City and taking off again en route to Steamboat Springs. |
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Originally Posted By TimeOnTarget: What was the weather? I don’t think it was bad. I’m not gonna armchair analyze, cause all I fly are kites. Sad, looks like a father, 2 sons +1 other. They made it all that way from TN. https://avweb.com/flight-safety/accidents-ntsb/colorado-epic-e100-crash-steamboat-springs/ |
If life was easy nobody would quit.
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Looks like he skipped the FAF and flew direct to the airport from the IAF or fix in between......either way, he was 20-30 degree left of the extended centerline and flew into a small mountain just west of the final approach path about 3 miles from the end of the runway. That is a very modern airplane with a display that should have shown the terrain. Low ceilings, mountains, and midnight--not a great combo. |
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Originally Posted By denverdan: Someone on FB said it was really foggy. I can’t confirm. I’m about 100 miles away. Apparently from what I’ve read he literally just flew straight into the mountain. If this sim from his track is right, he did just that. That looks like a nice plane, with plenty of power to fly in the mountains . https://www.facebook.com/reel/25923665687267087/?fs=e&s=TIeQ9V&fs=e&fs=e |
If life was easy nobody would quit.
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SBS is a neat little airport, but could be a challenge at night. It's a short field (LDA:3852) at high elevation, mountainous, with the runway on a plateau. Four degree PAPIs, and an LNAV approach that screams in at 7.75 degrees. Early in my career, I used to fly a little CitationJet (CE525) in and out of there SP. If conditions were perfect, I had to numbers to land there with about 5-800' to spare of runway, and the jet always made or exceeded book numbers when flown on the ball, so I was pretty comfortable doing so and never had any issues. But if conditions were less than perfect I'd just divert to HDN, I never tried to push it. I also wasn't operating there at night, or IMC anywhere close to minimums. Back then I don't think the RNAV existed, so I was going in visually anyway. Had to follow the valley and get past the peak of that hill before starting my descent. There's some talk on the other forum that perhaps he loaded one RNAV approach, and then briefed the other one. Both are LNAV, and he might have been trying to fly it as a CDFA. |
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Originally Posted By DVCER: If this sim from his track is right, he did just that. That looks like a nice plane, with plenty of power to fly in the mountains . https://www.facebook.com/reel/25923665687267087/?fs=e&s=TIeQ9V&fs=e&fs=e That shows he was way off course too. If he was on the extended center line, then he would have been in the middle of that valley. There's a reason that runway was aligned the way it was. |
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Originally Posted By TimeOnTarget: What was the weather? METAR KSBS 130655Z AUTO 08006KT 5SM SCT002 BKN024 OVC041 A3015 RMK AO1 METAR KSBS 130715Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM SCT005 BKN016 OVC024 A3016 RMK AO1 METAR KSBS 130735Z AUTO 16006KT 10SM SCT007 OVC014 A3015 RMK AO1 Here are the two approaches.  Emerald Mountain is aafter WNDCK - 8353'  Another possibility is he didn't have the current altimeter or he set it wrong. It appears he was on the RNAV-Z approach which takes him right over Emerald Mtn. We don't know if he was hand flying or on AP. |
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I flew helicopters in the Colorado National Guard at the High Altitude school. I have also flown the C23 into Eagle and other mountain airports. I have operated the 747 in Afghanistan many other mountainous airports around the world as well. I ALWAYS briefed terrain as a risk when applicable. |
"I will leave when I have your wounded." MAJ Kelly
 N98FK Epic 1000 Fatal Crash Steamboat Springs CO 13 Feb 2026 |
"I will leave when I have your wounded." MAJ Kelly
| Juan has an updated video about this incident. The FAA has NOTAMd out some of those approaches now. |
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