Authorities have released the names of a man and a woman who were killed in a small plane crash south of Pagosa Springs, Colorado.
The Denver Post reports 70-year-old Robert "Bobby" Bennett, of Midlothian, Texas; and 53-year-old Svitlana Solodovnyk, from Ukraine, were killed when their Beechcraft 35 Bonanza crashed near U.S. 84 on Friday morning.
The Archuleta County Sheriff's Office says the two were in town for the Pagosa Springs Air Race and were familiarizing themselves with the course.
Bennett radioed a friend flying in front of him that he was having mechanical problems and was going down.
Witnesses on the ground reported seeing white smoke coming from the airplane just before the crash, and the pilot was banking hard to the left in a possible attempt to land on a nearby gravel road.
