Colorado pilot crashes plane into home he used to own

NORTHGLENN , Colo., May 7 (UPI) -- It’s a fairly large coincidence, but no foul play is suspected after a Colorado pilot crashed a plane into a home he used to own in Northglenn on Monday.

Pilot Brian Veatch was flying from Platte Valley Park Airport to Coors Field while trailing an advertising banner when the plane’s engine failed, causing him to crash into the home.

“The fact he didn’t go nose down first -- it probably softened the blow. It probably saved his life,” Tom Mace, the owner of Drag ‘n’ Fly Banners, told KDVR.

Veatch, who is a firefighter for the South Metro Fire Rescue Authority, wasn’t hurt in the crash and tried to put out the fire himself with a garden hose. “I was proud of him. He went into fireman mode. Checked himself out, dropped out, got out of cockpit, tried to open the door,” Mace said.

No one was in the house at the time of the crash except a couple of dogs.

“My house is still standing. There was a plane sticking out of it earlier but they got that out,” the house’s current owner, Matthew Richardson, told CBS Denver. “It’s bizarre and unfortunate but there’s no loss of life and my animals are okay and it’s all material. I have insurance.”