At about 0942 Mountain time the airplane was destroyed when it impacted terrain following a loss of control on initial climb. The private pilot and single passenger were fatally injured. Instrument conditions prevailed.
As line personnel arrived to pull and fuel the airplane, the pilot was removing baggage from inside the airplane and placing it in the hangar. Once the airplane was pulled outside, the pilot performed a walk-around inspection before he and the passenger boarded the airplane. The line personnel reported “heavy” snowfall from the time the airplane was pulled from the hangar until it departed saw an accumulation of “wet snow” on the airplanes wings. A witness observed the airplane take off, reporting it appeared to level off momentarily at about 500 AGL before entering a right turn. He then lost sight of the airplane due to the visibility. Radar information revealed that the airplane continued in a right turn until it impacted the ground in a nose-down attitude of approximately 70 degrees about one mile north of the runway.
