A plane crash Monday east of Telluride killed the pilot and the only passenger, according to the San Miguel County Sheriff.
The two victims were newlyweds and have been identified as Costas John Sivyllis, 30, and Lindsey Vogelaar, 33, both of Port Orange, Florida.
The privately owned Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft was found Tuesday afternoon in Ingram Basin east of Telluride. There were no survivors.
It departed the Telluride Airport about 12:45 p.m. and is believed to have crashed 10 to 15 minutes later, according to a San Miguel Sheriff’s Office report.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.
The couple eloped to Telluride and held a small wedding Oct. 1. They were on an adventure-filled honeymoon and were documenting it online for friends and family to follow, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Both worked in the airline industry. Sivyllis was a United Airlines pilot and a flight instructor.
The couple were heading back to Florida with a possible stop in Oklahoma to refuel.
A low-flying helicopter search and rescue was in progress at 4:30 p.m. Monday for a report of a downed aircraft. Black Bear Pass was closed during the search and reopened at 6:25 p.m. No drone flying was allowed while the search was conducted.
The bodies were recovered by 6:25 p.m. Monday, the Sheriff’s Office said.
“Sheriff Masters extended his personal condolences, and those of the entire rescue team, to the victims families,” according to a Sheriff’s Office Facebook post.
Sivyllis was the registered owner of the 1964 Beechcraft, a fixed-wing, single-engine plane, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Before arriving in Telluride Sept. 29, the plane had left from Daytona Beach, Florida, on Sept. 28, with stops in Meridian, Mississippi; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Del Norte, Colorado, according to the aviation website FlightAware.
The plane is recorded as taking a 17-minute round-trip flight Thursday, Oct. 1, from Telluride Regional Airport. Before its fatal flight, the plane had taken off at 11:03 a.m. for a 53-minute round-trip flight from the Telluride airport.
At the time of the plane’s final flight, weather conditions at Telluride Regional Airport were clear with 10 miles visibility, according to the National Weather Service. Wind was 12 mph out of the west, with gusts up to 20 mph.
jmimiaga@the-journal.com
