At least 14 dead in Montana plane crash

BUTTE, Mont., March 22 (UPI) -- Federal investigators were at the scene of a single-engine plane crash near Butte, Mont., Sunday that killed 14 to 17 people, officials said.

Earlier reports indicated the crash killed 17 people but the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday evening that a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said the number was between 14 and 17.

The plane was carrying children and adults to a skiing vacation in Montana, The New York Times reported. A mechanic at an airport in California where the plane had stopped Sunday morning told the newspaper about a dozen children were on the flight.

An FAA spokesman told CNN the turboprop plane was a Pilatus PC-12 bound for Bozeman, Mont. FAA spokesman Mike Fergus said the pilot changed the flight plan about 3 p.m. local time and rerouted to Butte, crashing in a wooded area near a cemetery about 500 feet short of Bert Mooney Airport.

Witnesses said the plane turned at a steep angle as it approached the airport before abruptly going into a nosedive.

"All of a sudden the pilot lost control and went into a nosedive," Kenny Gulick, 14, told The (Butte) Montana Standard. "He couldn't pull out in time and crashed into the trees of the cemetery."

Gulick, a member of the Civil Air Patrol in Butte, lives near the airport.

Citing the flightaware.com tracking service, the Times said the flight originated Sunday in Redlands, Calif., near San Bernardino east of Los Angeles. It flew to Vacaville, south of Sacramento, where it was on the ground for 50 minutes before making the short trip to Oroville, about 90 miles north of Sacramento. The Times said the flight resumed after about 30 minutes on the ground at Oroville.

The Pilatus PC-12 is a Swiss-made plane introduced in 1994 listed as being designed to carry one or two pilots and eight passengers, Flying magazine said in its September issue.