Challenger 601 Crash in Rockies

[Kip Powick]

NBC Sports' Ebersol Injured in Colorado Plane Crash

NBC Universal Sports Chairman Dick Ebersol was injured in a plane crash near the Montrose Regional Airport in Colorado this morning in which two died, law- enforcement authorities said.

The private jet carrying six people crashed as it was taking off at about 10 a.m. Colorado time, the Montrose County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. Ebersol, 57, and two other passengers were taken to Montrose Memorial Hospital. Another passenger is missing, the sheriff's office said. The pilot and co-pilot died in the crash, the Associated Press said, citing Denver-based television station KUSA-TV.

Ebersol's eldest son son, Charles, a senior at the University of Notre Dame, was also onboard the jet and survived the crash, KUSA-TV reported on its Web site. Charles helped his father out through the front of the plane, the Associated Press reported, citing eyewitness Chuck Distel. Search crews are looking for Ebersol's younger son Edward, 14, who was also reported to be onboard, KUSA-TV said.

Two of the people injured in the crash were transferred to St. Mary's hospital in Grand Junction, Colorado, where they arrived at 5 p.m. Colorado time, Dan Prinster, vice president at St. Mary's said in a telephone interview. Prinster declined to identify the patients, at the request of family members.

NBC Universal, the world's seventh-largest media company, is a division of General Electric Co. Ebersol, who joined NBC in 1974, was executive producer of ``Saturday Night Live'' in the early 1980s. He was named chairman of NBC Sports and Olympics in 1998. In December, he signed a nine-year contract to continue running NBC Sports through the 2012 Summer Olympics.

The town of Montrose is 185 miles southwest of Denver, and the airport serves the Telluride ski area.

Ebersol's wife, actress Susan Saint James, was not on the plane, Kevin Sullivan, NBC Sports Communications Vice President said in an interview. He declined to comment further on the crash or who was involved.

The aircraft is a Bombardier Challenger 601-1A, which is part of the Challenger family of business jets first delivered in 1980, Leo Knaapen, a spokesman for Bombardier Inc. said in a telephone interview. There are 635 Challenger business jets in service around the world and the aircraft has served more than 2.5 million flight hours, Knaapen said. There have been five crashes in its history, he said.

The jet was headed for South Bend, Indiana, Allen Kenitzer, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said in a telephone interview.

There was snow in the area at the time of the crash, Kenitzer said. The National Transportation Safety Board is leading an investigation into the crash, he said.

[Vsplat]

Man Bombardier is having a rough ride. How many accident teams do they have???

Vs

[jump seat]

Interesting article "Small Chartered Planes May Pose Big Risks"

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=290470&page=1

[Say Altitude]

Just heard on the tube that the Crew sat on the ground for over an hour while it was snowing and didn't deice prior to departure.

[Kip Powick]

The body of the 14-year-old son of NBC executive Dick Ebersol was apparently recovered late Monday after a fiery jet crash in Colorado that injured Ebersol and another son.

A body matching the description of Edward "Teddy" Ebersol was found underneath the wreckage, Montrose County Coroner Mark Young said. "I'm not going to discuss the condition of the body out of respect for the family."

Two others were killed in the crash after the charter jet took off in light snow Sunday from an airport that serves the Telluride ski area. A company at the airport that handles snow and ice removal from planes reported that the jet took off without being de-iced.

Ebersol and his son Charles were hospitalized in stable condition, Mike McCarley, spokesman for NBC Sports, said Monday night.

Federal authorities said it's too early to tell what caused the crash. "It's going to be a while because unfortunately a lot of the wreckage is still covered with snow," said Arnold Scott, the lead investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board.

A heavy snowstorm had eased up before the plane prepared to take off, but there was no immediate word if weather was a factor.

By Chuck Distel, AP

The airplane carrying Ebersol and his sons burns after crashing on takeoff Sunday morning in Montrose, Colo.

The way in which the Canadair Challenger 601 crashed will make icing a likely cause to be investigated.The jet apparently failed to get airborne.Ice and snow on a jet's wings can play havoc with its ability to fly. Small amounts the size of grains of sand can reduce a wing's ability to lift a jet off the ground.

As a result, pilots on charter flights are required to inspect their aircraft before takeoff to ensure that no ice or snow is present, according to Federal Aviation Administration regulations. If there is ice, they must get the plane de-iced with a bath of chemicals.

However, the twin jet being operated by Air Castle Corp. in Millville, N.J., did not get de-iced, said Steve McLaughlin of MTJ Air Services, the only company at Montrose Regional Airport that performs the service.

With light snow falling, crews began picking through the charred pile of twisted metal and a 6-foot-high shard of the fuselage with three gaping, round windows. The two engines lay on the ground nearby near the tail section where they had been mounted. A backhoe was brought in to help dig through the wreckage, found near a cattle pen in a snow-covered field dotted with knee-high weeds.

Ebersol has been head of NBC Sports for nearly 15 years, and is perhaps best known for his love of the Olympics, which are broadcast on the network. (Related item: Crash shakes TV sports world)

He and two of his sons, Charles, 21, and Edward, were flying home from California, where the older son's school, Notre Dame, played a football game Saturday against Southern California. Another Ebersol son, Willie, 18, is a freshman at USC.

They flew to Colorado, where they have a home, to drop off Ebersol's wife, actress Susan Saint James, who starred in the 1980s television series Kate and Allie. Then, Ebersol and the two sons were headed to drop off Charles at school in South Bend, Ind.

Witnesses said that it appeared that the plane never got off the ground. It ran off the runway and skidded across a two-lane road, punching through fences before bursting into flames.

Rescue workers initially declared Edward missing. He was a freshman at a Connecticut boarding school.

The coroner's office identified the victims as Luis Alberto Polanco Espaillat, 50, of the Dominican Republic and Warren T. Richardson III, 36, of Coral Gables, Fla. The FAA said Espaillat was the pilot, Richardson a flight attendant. The co-pilot's name hasn't been released.

The co-pilot was hospitalized in Denver in critical condition. Dick and Charles Ebersol were hospitalized in Grand Junction.