Bodies recovered from plane wreckage
Memorial services have been set for Sunday afternoon for Aspen native Bryan Sax, as authorities in Florida begin to piece together the puzzle of what caused the apparent midair collision of two small planes that took the lives of Sax and three other men.
The remembrance will be held in the St. Regis ballroom from 2-5 p.m. Sunday, with the service followed by an opportunity for people to share stories. Donations may be made to the Bryan Sax memorial account at Alpine Bank.
The bodies of the four victims were recovered by airboat from a marshy area in the Everglades on Monday morning, according to Broward County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright. They were all reportedly found in the cockpits.
Authorities will attempt to recover the wreckage of the two planes, which were found about 300 yards apart, beginning today, said National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Peter Knudson.
The NTSB expects to issue a preliminary report on the accident in the next several days, and they hope to use radar data from the planes to help determine what might have happened. But because both planes were equipped with dual controls — each belonged to a flight school and were on training missions — Knudson said the investigation might not be able to say definitively who was manipulating the controls when the planes collided. Investigators can, however, find out from the flight schools what the plan was.
A twin-engine Piper, containing Sax, 37, and Andrew Marc Rossignol, 21, a certified pilot from Stuart, Fla., took off from the Fort Lauderdale airport with clear weather Saturday after 3 p.m. At about the same time a single-engine Cessna 172 took off from North Perry airport, with Stuart Brown, 25, a flight instructor from Pembroke Pines, Fla., and Edson Jefferson, 30, a certified pilot of Miramar, Fla., aboard.
Both planes were headed to a flight training area and were operating under visual flight rules, meaning they weren’t in contact with air traffic control, which is not abnormal, officials said.
Authorities believe the collision happened after 4 p.m., but the accident was only discovered the next day after the planes and victims were reported missing and a search was launched at daybreak. The site of the crash is in remote unincorporated wetlands west of Fort Lauderdale.
Sax had been flying for many years and recently bought the Aspen Aero flight school with his cousin. He had a desire and a knack for teaching that included making sure his father, Don, also a pilot, was flying safely, a friend said. Sax was taking a multi-week course on multi-engine aircraft and had just passed one of the levels when the accident happened.
“He was a good pilot, very conscientious. He took it serious,” said JP Hutter, a close friend and fellow pilot who is familiar with the Florida training area. “But there’s a high volume of training traffic in that area and I’ve had a few close calls there. There’s a lot of planes in a confined space. It’s see and avoid, and it can be difficult to see another airplane.”
Sax was born and raised in Aspen and lived here with his wife, Christy, and three children. A ski racing star as a college student, he went on to compete in the now-defunct 24 Hours of Aspen endurance ski race. He was one of Aspen’s favorite bartenders at Jimmy’s, from 1998-2006, which he left to start two coffee shops called Saxy’s in Basalt and Boulder. He also coached ski racing and junior hockey.
But many friends said his true passion was flying, although even that was described as a “distant second” to his devotion to his family.
An outgoing, fun-loving personality, Sax has many friends and admirers, as evidenced by the nearly 350 people that had joined the Facebook group “Friends of Bryan Sax” by presstime Monday night.
“I will always remember his megawatt smile and his robust hugs. He never failed to make me laugh when I saw him,” Casady Henry wrote on the group page. “You truly made the world a better place for everyone you touched.”
“I’ve never met anyone with such an uncanny ability to brighten the world around him,” wrote Hilary Webb.
“I never met anyone who said they didn’t like Bryan Sax,” wrote Trent Burkholder. “The guy was just a ball of energy and enthusiasm. Man could that boy ski!”
lutz@aspendailynews.com