by Paul Sanchez

As much as people love flying to the Colorado mountains for the skiing, fishing, hiking and grandeur, when all good things come to an end we unfortunately must depart an airport surrounded by the very mountains we love. If we’re trying to fly ourselves in instrument conditions, that’s when things can go very badly.

As one example, on November 17, 1996, the pilot of a Piper Aerostar 601P decided he was going to go ahead and depart from Eagle/Vail, Colo. (EGE), despite poor weather. A corporate jet’s captain and first officer who had already decided not to depart, and in fact had off-loaded their passengers and baggage, encountered the…