FAA: 14 dead in Butte plane crash
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| Mon, 03-23-2009 - 10:25am |
My FIL, now dead, never flew with his wife & all the children aboard at the same time incase something like this accident happened.
See link for complete article......
http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.asp?S=10050868&nav=menu227_7
Seven adults and seven children are dead after a single engine turboprop airplane nose-dived into a cemetery as it approached the Butte airport on Sunday afternoon.
A Federal Aviation Administration official confirmed the number of dead at 14 early on Monday, but she does not have the names or ages of the victims.
The plane was believed to be taking its occupants on a ski trip to Montana.
While no names have officially been released, the Napa Valley Register is reporting the victims included St. Helena opthamologist and his family. The newspaper's Web site, www.napavalleyregister.com, reports Dr. Erin Jacobson, his wife Amy, and their three children Taylor, 4, Ava, 3, and Jude, 2 died in the crash.
The FAA says the aircraft took off from Oroville, California, on Sunday, originally destined for Bozeman, but the pilot changed his flight plan for Butte.
Agency officials said the airplane crashed and burned at about 2:30 p.m. Sunday in Holy Cross Cemetery, just 500 feet short of Bert Mooney Airport.
No Calls Made: Overloading Could Have Been Factor in Crash
>"The Pilatus PC-12, a high-end, single-engine turbo prop, was certified to carry 12 people but federal investigators say there were 14 people on the flight, seven of them children."<
Article & video at... http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Travel/story?id=7148042&page=1



Complete article at link...
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE52M7XW20090323
The plane that crashed in Montana and killed all seven children and seven adults aboard had more passengers than seats, a federal official said on Monday.
National Transportation Safety Board Acting Chairman Mark Rosenker said his team is investigating whether the 10-seat plane was carrying too much weight and why it nose-dived short of the runway in mountainous Butte, Montana. The single-engine plane had no "black box" flight data recorder and the investigation could take months.
All the children were under age 10. Only one, a 1-year-old, by regulation could have been seated on an adult's lap for the flight. That left 13 people and 10 seats.
"We are going to have to try and understand how, and why, there were three additional people on board the aircraft." Rosenker told reporters.
He stopped short of saying the plane was overcrowded. Officials changed the number of passengers and seats aboard the plane as the investigation progressed. More see link.