NTSB: Plane crash investigation has no 1 focus

National Transportation Safety Board investigators haven't focused on any single issue yet as they seek the cause of the corporate jet crash that killed eight people, a board member said Saturday.

"We are looking at everything," said board member Steven Chealander. "There is no single focus at this point. It is a multiple focus accident investigation."

The plane was carrying six casino and construction executives and two pilots when it went down Thursday, killing everyone on board. The executives were coming to Owatonna to meet with representatives of a local glass company called Viracon to discuss a $2 billion hotel-casino complex being built in Atlantic City, N.J., by Revel Entertainment.

The chartered aircraft went down in a cornfield northwest of Degner Regional Airport. Seven people were found dead at the site; the eighth died at a hospital.

Investigators plan to interview crash witnesses as well as people in Pennsylvania where the flight originated and in Atlantic City where it stopped, Chealander said.

They also are looking at runway conditions, mechanical issues and a thunderstorm that moved through the area before the crash, he said.

Investigators planned to listen to the cockpit voice recorder, the only recording device on the plane, he said. They also have recovered the flight management computer and enhanced ground proximity warning system, and hope those devices have memory that might be helpful.

Chealander said the plane had touched down on the runway but witnesses then heard the engines power up again as the pilots tried to get back in the air. The plane traveled about 1,000 feet before it hit a runway-wide antenna about 8 feet high.

"That's where the airplane lost control," he said.

The plane rolled over into the cornfield and started coming apart, he said.

Investigators don't yet know why the pilots tried to get back into the air, Chealander said.