Plane crashes shortly after takeoff from Colorado airport

A plane departing Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Broomfield crashed Saturday morning shortly after takeoff.

The plane went down west of Broomfield and immediately north of U.S. 36. The crash scene is located in the south section of the Carolyn Holmberg Preserve near a set of railroad tracks. 

The crashed plane caught fire, according to a social media post from North Metro Fire Rescue. The fire was extinguished within minutes.

There were no survivors.

"This is obviously a tragic incident, and certainly (we are) thinking about the families involved of the people who were on the plane," North Metro Deputy Chief Mark Daugherty said at the scene. "Just a tragic incident."  

Preliminary information from a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman told CBS Colorado there were two people on board. Also, the plane was a Beechcraft 95. That twin-engine model is also known as the Travel Air or Baron. According to American Bonanza Society's website, that Beechcraft model was built between 1964 and 1982.

The first sign of trouble occurred at 10:01 a.m. Per radio traffic from RMMA's tower, the plane failed to turn when alerted to other aircraft. When tower personnel questioned the lack of response, the plane's pilot responded, "We're going to have to go back and re-land. We've got the door popped open...We can hardly hear you, sir."

The tower quickly gave the pilot permission to land on runway 30-Right. 

The pilot did not answer.

Within seconds, the tower clarified: "Any runway you need. Any runway. You are cleared to land."

The tower made three of those announcements before another pilot said, "They just went down north of 36."

Personnel from other responding agencies, which includes the Boulder County Sheriff's Office and the National Transportation Safety Board, are gathering at Midway Avenue and Brainard Drive. The FAA and NTSB are investigating the incident.

Brainard Drive is shut down indefinitely.