Colfax County – On Saturday, May 16, 2015 around 10:00 a.m., the New Mexico State Police received notice of a crash involving a personal paraglider aircraft. This crash occurred near the 
Angel Fire Airport in Angel Fire, New Mexico.
The investigating officers discovered the paraglider aircraft was operated by Paul Johnson, forty-six years of age from Austin, Texas. Mr. Johnson had been operating the aircraft from the Angel Fire Airport Saturday morning. He was last heard from via a phone call to a friend at 8:30 a.m. indicating he had landed in a field north of the airport and was going to attempt to lift off again and return to the airport. Around 10:00 a.m. when Mr. Johnson had not arrived back at the airport, his friends began searching for him.
Mr. Johnson and his aircraft were located in a field north of the airport approximately ½ mile east of US 64 at milepost 278. The investigation from the scene revealed Mr. Johnson’s paraglider had crashed in the field. He was pronounced deceased on scene by the Office of the Medical Investigator.
The cause for the crash is unknown. The Federal Aviation Administration was contacted, and, due to the aircraft not needing to be registered or licensed for personal operation, declined an on-scene investigation.
Mr. Paul Johnson was a police officer employed by the Austin Police Department in Texas.
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