Montana plane crash shatters 3 families

BUTTE, Mont. — The six of them attended college together. They pursued graduate degrees at the same university, then all settled into medical professions and started families at around the same time.

And on Sunday they were all sitting on the same private plane, with their seven young children, headed to a much-anticipated ski vacation at an exclusive resort in Big Sky, Mont.

But something went horribly wrong. The plane, carrying more people than it was designed for, plunged to the ground about 2:30 p.m. Sunday, bursting into flames at the edge of a cemetery just short of an airport where it was to make an unplanned and still-unexplained stop. No one survived.

"Everyone's just devastated; even people who didn't know them are in shock," said Julie Lee, a spokeswoman for Pacific Union College in Angwin, Calif., from which all the adult victims other than the pilot had graduated. "All those families and children."

On Monday, against the steep wall of the northern Rocky Mountains, their tops obscured by the leaden clouds that clung low to the valley all day, relatives of the victims visited the crash site, which was in a cluster of blue spruce trees.

Among the mourners was Irving "Bud" Feldkamp III, who lost two daughters and five grandchildren in the crash of the plane, a single-engine Pilatus PC-12. Feldkamp was among seven owners of the plane, according to a statement from an agent of the ownership corporation.

Feldkamp had driven to the Yellowstone Club resort in Big Sky with his wife and another daughter to meet up with the group. He learned of the plane crash as he arrived.

"We were going on a vacation with all the grandkids," Feldkamp told The Associated Press. "They were all excited about skiing." At the entrance to the club, he said, he got a phone call from a nephew. "He saw it on CNN," Feldkamp said. "He said, 'Nobody survived.' We knew it was our plane."

The victims were identified as Erin and Amy Jacobson of St. Helena, Calif., and their children, 4-year-old Taylor; 3-year-old Ava, and 1-year-old Jude; Michael and Vanessa Pullen of Lodi, Calif., and their children, 9-year-old Sydney and 7-year-old Christopher; and Brent and Kristen Ching of Durham, Calif., and their children, 5-year-old Heiley and 3-year-old Caleb.

Vanessa Pullen and Amy Jacobsen were Feldkamp's daughters, and were also listed as shareholders of the plane's registered owner, Eagle Cap Leasing of Enterprise, Ore.

All the adults had attended Pacific Union College and graduate schools at Loma Linda University, in Southern California, studying in fields like nursing, dentistry and medicine.

Without survivors or flight data — the plane did not have a cockpit voice recorder or flight-data recorder — the cause could take longer than usual to be determined, said the acting chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, Mark Rosenker, at a news conference here.

The plane was designed for a maximum of 10 people, Rosenker said. But there was also speculation that ice could have formed on the wings.

The pilot, Buddy Summerfield, a 65-year-old former Air Force pilot with 8,500 hours in aircraft, including 2,000 flying Pilatus PC-12s, gave no indication of problems during several communications with air traffic control while trying to land at Bert Mooney Airport on the outskirts of Butte, Rosenker said.

Given that the plane was carrying more people than it was designed for, the pilot's ability to control the airplane's pitch could have been compromised, said David Faile, an aviation-safety specialist, FAA safety-team volunteer and retired corporate pilot. Extra passengers and baggage can overload an airplane, affecting the center of gravity and increasing the speeds needed to keep the plane from losing lift at lower airspeeds.

Rosenker told reporters in Montana that investigators would look at icing on the wings as a factor.

"We will be looking at everything as it relates to the weather," he said.