Investigators Checking OSU Plane Crash
Jan. 28 -- Investigators are racing against an incoming snowstorm, at a debris field perhaps a mile long, to find the cause of a plane crash that killed 10 Oklahoma State University basketball players and staff.
Investigators still do not know what caused the Beechcraft King Air 200 turbo prop plane to crash in a snowstorm Saturday. Much of the plane's remains rested today in a snow-covered field near a Dairy Barn in Byers, Colo., 40 miles east of Denver.
"The debris and personal effects are scattered over a wide area in a snow-covered pasture," said police Sgt. Craig Coleman, "luggage, pieces of clothing, pieces of mangled metal."
John Hammerschmidt, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, said NTSB investigators arrived at noon local time. They will look for any mechanical problems with the plane, and try to determine if pilot error or weather conditions were factors in the crash.
So far, no flight data recorders have been found and there was no distress call received from the pilots before the crash.
The FBI has a forensics team at the site to help identify remains and determine if there needs to be a criminal investigation.
But investigators are worried that an incoming snowstorm could bury evidence. And Hammerschmidt said this afternoon that the debris field is so big the NTSB has yet to even measure it.
"It looks as though this debris field, which is linear in shape, extends approximately one-half mile to a mile in length," he said. "It appears there are some pieces of the aircraft that are located in the front part of the debris field a fair distance from where the initial fuselage impact is. From that point of impact, then you have another approximately, I'm guessing maybe 100 yards more in the debris field."
Returning From Colorado Game
The plane crashed 20 minutes after takeoff as the Oklahoma State basketball team was returning from a game in Denver against the University of Colorado.
Among the dead are OSU players Nate Fleming and Dan Lawson, both 21, four staff members, a team announcer, two pilots and a student manager.
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