March 22, 2009
The AP is reporting that a single engine turboprop plane has crashed while attempting to land at the airport in Butte, Montana. Landing 500 feet short of the airport, the Montana Standard reported in an online story that it crashed in Butte’s Holy Cross Cemetery.
Reportedly, the plane was on route from Oroville, California to Bozeman, Montana, when the pilot canceled his flight plan and attempted to land in Butte, Montana instead.
17 people were killed in the crash, including several children. All were reportedly on their way to enjoy a ski trip.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman, Fergus said the plane was registered to Eagle Cap Leasing Inc. in Enterprise, Oregon, but he did not know who the pilot was.
An eyewitness told the Standard that the plane was doing steep angle turns and then went into a nose dive, crashing into the trees in the cemetary.
Jailed investor tells paper he can’t recall crash
Date: 1/24/2009
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — An Indiana financial adviser accused of trying to fake his death in a plane crash said he’s been under psychiatric care and claims not to recall the events of the day he bailed out, a newspaper reported Friday.
Marcus Schrenker called The New York Post from the Escambia County Jail on Wednesday night and Thursday night and told the newspaper that he has no memory of the events of Jan. 11. Authorities say he flew his small plane from Indiana that day, put it on autopilot and jumped out over Alabama after calling emergency officials to say the plane was having mechanical problems.
“I have no memory of any of it — not going to the airport, being in the air, nothing,” the newspaper quoted him as saying. “It’s just crazy. I’ve never even jumped out of a plane before. I sit here and stare and the walls and wonder what happened and say, ‘How did I get here?’.”
Schrenker told the newspaper his last memory is of attending his stepfather’s funeral on Dec. 9 and said he had been receiving psychiatric care and taking medication for a year.
Also on Friday, federal prosecutors in Florida asked a judge to consider additional mental evaluations of Schrenker. The move comes a day after a first evaluation was ordered to determine whether he’s fit to stand trial.
Two days after his plane crashed, Schrenker was arrested at a remote Panhandle campground where he was drifting in and out of consciousness after slashing his wrist and losing blood.
Federal authorities in Florida have charged him with intentionally crashing the plane in an apparent scheme to fake his own death and escape financial ruin. He also charged with placing false distress calls. In Indiana, he faces a host of charges related to his financial dealings.
An administrative law judge permanently revoked Schrenker’s Indiana insurance license on Friday. Although Schrenker voluntarily surrendered his Indiana licenses last summer, authorities also sought to permanently take them away.
Attempts by The Associated Press to reach Schrenker at the jail and through the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office were not successful. The federal public defender’s office also did not return a telephone call.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — An Indiana financial adviser accused of trying to fake his death in a plane crash said he’s been under psychiatric care and claims not to recall the events of the day he bailed out, a newspaper reported Friday.
Marcus Schrenker called The New York Post from the Escambia County Jail on Wednesday night and Thursday night and told the newspaper that he has no memory of the events of Jan. 11. Authorities say he flew his small plane from Indiana that day, put it on autopilot and jumped out over Alabama after calling emergency officials to say the plane was having mechanical problems.
“I have no memory of any of it — not going to the airport, being in the air, nothing,” the newspaper quoted him as saying. “It’s just crazy. I’ve never even jumped out of a plane before. I sit here and stare and the walls and wonder what happened and say, ‘How did I get here?’.”
Schrenker told the newspaper his last memory is of attending his stepfather’s funeral on Dec. 9 and said he had been receiving psychiatric care and taking medication for a year.
Also on Friday, federal prosecutors in Florida asked a judge to consider additional mental evaluations of Schrenker. The move comes a day after a first evaluation was ordered to determine whether he’s fit to stand trial.
Two days after his plane crashed, Schrenker was arrested at a remote Panhandle campground where he was drifting in and out of consciousness after slashing his wrist and losing blood.
Federal authorities in Florida have charged him with intentionally crashing the plane in an apparent scheme to fake his own death and escape financial ruin. He also charged with placing false distress calls. In Indiana, he faces a host of charges related to his financial dealings.
An administrative law judge permanently revoked Schrenker’s Indiana insurance license on Friday. Although Schrenker voluntarily surrendered his Indiana licenses last summer, authorities also sought to permanently take them away.
Attempts by The Associated Press to reach Schrenker at the jail and through the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office were not successful. The federal public defender’s office also did not return a telephone call.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
US investigator leads plane crash probe
Date: 12/5/2008
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A U.S. investigator is studying the charred wreckage of a small plane that plowed into a Puerto Rican rainforest to pinpoint the cause of the deadly crash.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board says Todd Gunther is leading the probe.
The Rockwell International 690B plane slammed into El Yunque mountain on Wednesday, killing Caribbean pilot Ken Webster and two U.S. tourists on board.
A spokesman for the Medical Mutual of Ohio health insurance company is identifying the two Americans as Kent W. Clapp, the firm’s chief executive, and his fiancee, Tracy Turner. Puerto Rican officials previously had identified the man as Ken Clapp.
The couple from Avon Lake outside Cleveland chartered the plane from the British Virgin Islands.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A U.S. investigator is studying the charred wreckage of a small plane that plowed into a Puerto Rican rainforest to pinpoint the cause of the deadly crash.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board says Todd Gunther is leading the probe.
The Rockwell International 690B plane slammed into El Yunque mountain on Wednesday, killing Caribbean pilot Ken Webster and two U.S. tourists on board.
A spokesman for the Medical Mutual of Ohio health insurance company is identifying the two Americans as Kent W. Clapp, the firm’s chief executive, and his fiancee, Tracy Turner. Puerto Rican officials previously had identified the man as Ken Clapp.
The couple from Avon Lake outside Cleveland chartered the plane from the British Virgin Islands.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.