Anguish of getting "our kids off the mountain"

WHITE PASS, Yakima County — Anguished friends and family members could only watch from a distance Tuesday afternoon as a rescue helicopter began lifting bodies from a "horrific" plane crash that killed 10 people heading home from a weekend skydiving event.

Sheriff's deputies fought tears trying to explain to family members why they didn't want them any closer.

"I'm told it was a horrific sight and the airplane crashed at a fairly high speed," said Jim Hall, director of Yakima Valley Emergency Management.

The crash site is about 25 miles southeast of Mount Rainier. Yakima County Sheriff Ken Irwin estimated the debris covered a small area — about 60 feet by 100 feet.

"From that you can ascertain it pretty much went straight down," he said.

The family of skydiver Casey Craig gathered about a mile from the site, snapping pictures of the helicopter and crew working through the afternoon.

Wanda Craig, Casey's mother, watched in tears, her friends and family engulfing her in a loving hug.

"I want to make sure people know he didn't die skydiving, it was a plane crash," Craig said. "There are people who think they could have jumped while the plane was going down. That's just not possible."

Michelle Barker, a 21-year-old from Kirkland, also was aboard the plane. Fiercely independent, she was "her own person," said her stepfather, Rich Williams of Boise, Idaho. Barker took her first dive when she was 18, and had been on 50 jumps since.

Williams said he arrived at the search site late Monday — just in time to hear the news that the wreckage had been found.

"And now we just have to get our kids off the mountain," he said.

Seven bodies were found late Monday, and recovery crews found the remaining three Tuesday. It took about 35 volunteers to comb the rugged mountain site and find the remaining passengers, said Nisha Marvel, spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation's aviation division. The bodies were taken to the Yakima County coroner's office.

The focus today will be on the aircraft and what brought it down, said Mike Robertson, an aviation safety inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), representing the National Transportation Safety Board.

Robertson said there was no explosion or fire aboard the Cessna 208 Grand Caravan. He would not discuss if weather could have been a factor.

The plane ferrying the nine skydivers was reported missing Sunday night on a flight from Star, Idaho, to Shelton, Mason County. It disappeared from radar screens about two-thirds of the way to its destination.

The skydivers were on their way back from a skydiving "boogie" — a weekend gathering of fellow jumpers near Boise. The skydivers were affiliated in one way or another with Skydive Snohomish, which operates a training school and offers skydiving flights at Harvey Field, said co-owner Elaine Harvey.

Family members confirmed Tuesday that the pilot was Phil Kibler, 46, of Seattle. Kibler was a 10-year aviation veteran, said his brother, Bill Kibler, and was planning to return to the East Coast to visit family after making Sunday's flight.

The single-engine plane, built in 1994, was owned by Kapowsin Air Sports of Shelton. Geoff Farrington, Kapowsin's co-owner, said the plane had never experienced mechanical problems. It was rented out on Friday by Kibler and the skydivers.

Thomas Tilson, director of flight operations for Kenmore Air Express in Seattle, said his company, which also uses the Cessna Caravan, considers it a "very capable, strong, powerful, fast and efficient passenger aircraft. It's a good moneymaker for us. It's very reliable."

When Kenmore Air Express was created more than three years ago as a commuter connection to the San Juan Islands, Whidbey Island and British Columbia, Tilson said, the company decided to build its fleet around the plane.

However, the Caravan has been under international scrutiny because of a spate of crashes during icy conditions. It has been the subject of directives from the FAA and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada warning against operating in icy conditions. Since 1990, 20 crashes of the plane worldwide have been linked to icing. Problems have often resulted from inexperienced pilots trying to fly the craft in poor weather, according to the two agencies.

While it's unknown whether Sunday's crash was weather-related, Tilson said he would have not flown the plane across the Cascades that day due to turbulent and icy conditions.

Craig Welch: 206-464-2093 cwelch@seattletimes.com

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 jsullivan@seattletimes.com

The Associated Press contributed to this story.