Feds are called in to investigate Glenwood crash

A Snowmass Village man said he’s “doing fine” after surviving the crash of his airplane into a residential neighborhood in Glenwood Springs Saturday.Norman Cohen sounded more concerned about the condition of his Cessna airplane, however.”I guess the old girl took a pretty good hit,” Cohen said by telephone from his home Monday.The plane, manufactured in 1949, clipped the roof of a townhome on Mount Sopris Drive and struck the second story of an adjacent townhome. It landed on its belly and left wing in a driveway between the two homes.Cohen declined to discuss the accident’s details and cause before speaking with federal investigators, citing legal concerns.”I don’t want them reading about it in the papers,” he said.Cohen said he was lucky to have come out of the crash in the condition that he did, and said he also had tried to avoid homes when his plane crashed.Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said the crash happened about 11:30 a.m. Saturday. The plane missed an approach to the airport before striking the townhomes.Cohen said an FAA investigator came to talk to him at Valley View Hospital Sunday, but he was having surgery on cuts to his cheek.Kenitzer said the National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation due to the amount of damage to the plane.Jennifer Kaiser, the Denver-based NTSB investigator on the case, said she hasn’t yet been able to speak to Cohen about the crash.She said the wreckage is being moved to Beegles Aircraft in Greeley at the request of Cohen’s insurance company. There, Cessna and Continental Motor representatives will inspect the plane.Kaiser said the investigation could take between one and three months. The NTSB will post a report on the investigation on the Internet, and the findings will be sent to Washington, D.C., where a five-member NTSB board will determine the crash cause, she said.