The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 3/24/09 Section: News

Media Credit: The Associated Press Officials investigate the scene of fatal plane crash outside the Butte Airport in Butte, Mont., on Sunday. A small plane, possibly carrying children on a ski trip, crashed Sunday as it approached the Butte airport, killing 14 to 17 people aboard, according to a federal official. The single engine turboprop nose-dived into a cemetery 500 feet (150 meters) from its destination.

BUTTE, Mont. (AP) - Investigators will examine whether a single-engine turboprop plane was overloaded when it nose-dived into a cemetery and killed 14 people on board who were heading to a retreat for the ultrarich for a ski trip, a federal official said Monday.

The plane was likely designed to carry a total of 11 people, including two pilots, Mark Rosenker, acting chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said at a news conference. Officials said seven adults and seven children were killed in the crash Sunday; a relative said there were two 4-year-olds and the other children were ages 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9.

"It will take us a while to understand," Rosenker said. "We have to get the weights of all the passengers, we have to get the weight of the fuel, all of the luggage."

Rosenker said it was possible that a very small child would be on the lap of an adult.

"We are going to have to try to understand how and why there were an additional three people (over the assumed configuration) on the aircraft," Rosenker said. Some luggage was retrievable for weight and measurement analysis, he said.

Relatives of the victims said they had been traveling to the Yellowstone Club for a skiing vacation. The club, near Yellowstone National Park, is a millionaires-only resort that counts former Vice President Dan Quayle and Microsoft founder Bill Gates among its 340 members.

"We were going on a vacation with all the grandkids," said Irving M. "Bud" Feldkamp, who lost two daughters and their families in the crash. "They were all excited about skiing."

Feldkamp leased the airplane that crashed. He said he, his wife and another daughter had driven to Montana for the vacation.

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