Wed, Feb. 16, 2005
 
Plane Crash Kills 8 Near Pueblo, Colo.

By ROBERT WELLER
The Associated Press

PUEBLO, Colo. - A small jet owned by electronics retailer Circuit City crashed in freezing drizzle Wednesday as it approached the Pueblo airport, killing all eight people aboard, including four company employees.

Two witnesses told investigators they heard loud popping noises from the twin-jet Cessna Citation C-560 shortly before the crash at about 9 a.m., Pueblo County Sheriff Dan Corsentino said. The cause of the crash was unknown.

"I don't have any idea why it went down. It is just an unfortunate thing," sheriff's spokesman Steve Bryant said. A National Transportation Safety Board official was at the scene and a team of investigators was expected to arrive late Wednesday.

FAA spokesman Mike Fergus said the pilot was relying on the plane's instruments to make the airport approach because of poor weather. The National Weather Service reported low clouds, fog and freezing drizzle with visibility of about six miles at the airport at the time. The temperature was 27 degrees.

In 1998, the FAA required operators of several Cessna models, including the one that crashed Wednesday, to add a warning to their flight manuals that flying in freezing drizzle and other conditions "may result in ice buildup on protected surfaces exceeding the capability of the ice protection system."

Aviation analyst John Nance said freezing drizzle is risky because it makes it easy for ice to form on the wings, which adds weight and can affect the plane's handling.

"You can overwhelm almost any airplane, even a 747 if you get into certain types of icing," said Nance, a pilot and author based in Seattle.

The victims included a pilot, co-pilot and six passengers, Corsentino said. The flight originated in Richmond, Va., home of Circuit City Stores Inc. Fergus said Pueblo was the plane's destination, but Corsentino said the aircraft was stopping to refuel before heading to Irvine, Calif.

A second company plane landed safely just before the crash. The eight people aboard that aircraft stood or sat in a lobby at the airport, many with sad expressions. None had any immediate comment. The model of the second plane was not immediately available.

Circuit City, the nation's No. 2 chain of consumer electronics stores, said four of the victims were company employees. The company said no executives were killed, but released no other details pending notification of next of kin.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with their loved ones during their time of need," Circuit City CEO W. Alan McCollough said in a statement.

The plane went down about five miles east of the airport on sagebrush-dotted grassland between Pueblo and the Army's sprawling Pueblo Chemical Depot. A small fire was quickly extinguished.

It was the fourth fatal crash of a small plane in Colorado in the past three months. A Nov. 28 crash in Montrose in southwestern Colorado killed three people, including the 14-year-old son of NBC Sports executive Dick Ebersol. Authorities are investigating whether ice on the wings was to blame.

In December, two planes crashed a week apart at Centennial Airport in suburban Denver. Two people were killed in each crash.

---

Associated Press Writers Jon Sarche and Judith Kohler contributed to this report.