The FAA has taken the highly unusual step of closing an instrument approach to Steamboat Springs Airport in Colorado a few days after a fatal crash there. Last week the agency issued a NOTAM declaring the RNAV (GPS) Z Approach for Runway 32 at KSBS as not available until at least Oct. 1, 2026. The agency hasn’t explained its action, but the crash of an Epic E1000 that killed four people last week has generated a lot of online chatter and YouTube analysis videos, some of which call the approach inherently dangerous. The aircraft hit a mountain about 4 miles from the airport. The crash occurred just after midnight in bad weather. There were layers of cloud between the aircraft and the airport that could have hampered the pilot seeing the airport. There is another approach still available, the RNAV (GPS)-E, which goes to the east of Emerald Mountain where the Epic crashed.
As we reported last week, AOPA’s Air Safety Institute’s early analysis showed the aircraft was low as it crossed a key waypoint on its way to the airport. “ADS-B data show the pilot at 9,025 feet msl when he crossed the waypoint WDCHK, which has an MDA of 9,100 feet msl—meaning the aircraft was 75 feet lower than it should have been,” ASI Senior Vice President Mike Ginter said. “The aircraft continued to descend until it impacted terrain shortly thereafter.” The pilot was Tennessee businessman Aaron Stokes. Onboard were his son Jakson Stokes, 21, and nephew Colin Stokes, 21, and Austin Huskey, 37, all from the Franklin area of central Tennessee.
