The only thing vaguely factual (eyewitness) directly related to the impact with the ground so far is this, from the NYT story:
"Witnesses at the scene of the crash said the aircraft was turning at a steep angle as it approached Bert Mooney Airport on the outskirts of Butte at midafternoon when it abruptly went into a nosedive, plunged into a wooded area in Holy Cross Cemetery and burst into flames upon impact."
FlightAware indicates the cruise altitude was FL250, thus an IFR flight plan, and thus presumably the pilot amended the plan to divert to Butte 'sted Bozeman. Whether he gave ATC a reason....? And that reason may have been relatively benign and had nothing to do with the crash itself.
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Edit: CNN reporting (01:55 MDT Monday) FAA reporting 14 dead - 7 children, 7 adults. If we assume both cockpit seats were filled (this was a casual private flight, so even if only one pilot, a px might have been riding up front), that leaves 5 seats for 7 kids. Babes in laps?
Crash scene is 500 feet SW of approach end to Rwy 03.
Last edited by pattern_is_full; 23rd Mar 2009 at 08:01.