GRAND JUNCTION | The pilot killed in a small plane crash near Aurora was a veterinarian and a former search and rescue volunteer.
Sixty-seven-year-old Robert D. Marquis was killed Friday night in a crash that happened soon after his Cirrus SR-22 took off from Centennial Airport and came down near the airport in Lone Tree.
The Daily Sentinel reports that he opened Tiara Rado Animal Hospital in Grand Junction in 1983.
He served on the Mesa County Search and Rescue Team for nearly four years. Team member Doug Sieckert says Marquis never backed down from difficult missions and had a “passionate heart” for helping the community.
Authorities have not yet determined the cause of the crash. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor says Marquis indicated that he wanted to return to the airport soon after takeoff but he didn’t say why.
Marquis was the only person killed in the crash that happened soon after his plane took off from Centennial Airport Friday night.
Lone Tree homeowner Amy Webb told KUSA-TV that she heard a loud explosion before discovering the plane’s engine had torn through a wall in her house and sent debris into her living room. Nobody inside the home was injured.