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TOOELE -- Federal investigators arrived today to look into the Tooele County plane crash that killed three people. They spent the day trying to piece together preliminary details about the plane's impact point.
The investigation is now in the hands of the National Transportation Safety Board. Its investigators arrived Sunday morning and spent most of the day on the mountain, until bad weather forced them off.
A day after it crashed, the plane still rests in the same spot. Federal investigators spent the day walking along accident, looking for clues as to why this happened.
Kurt Anderson, with the National Travel Safety Board, said, "Looking at all the components, documenting them, taking photographs of them."
Saturday three men died in the P2V Neptune plane on its way from Missoula, Mont. to Alamogordo, N.M. It crashed into the side of the mountain, only about a fourth of a mile up from the main road, forcing people to wonder if weather was the reason it was flying so low.
On Saturday Stockton resident Madelyn Thomas said, "When it storms, it gets foggy, but it was really foggy this morning, more than usual, more than I've seen it for a while."
She said it was hard to see anything past her backyard. She's someone the NTSB might consider interviewing.
"We have individuals who were in this area about the time of the accident. So we will be able to interview those people and get a good idea of what the weather was at the time," Anderson said.
NTSB, along with people from Neptune Aviation, spent hours looking at the point of impact. Investigators say they're certain the plane hit at the lowest point and skid up the mountain coming to rest at the top.
"When the aircraft first impacts, it makes scars that will give us a good indication of what its attitude was. Once it travels up the hill, it starts to come apart to a certain extent," Anderson explained.
The crew came off the mountain when the snow was too much to handle.
Anderson said, "We have to look at everything. That's one of the areas we have to look at. Today's weather is today's weather."
NTSB investigators say they are far from figuring out a cause. They'll probably be here the next two days.
Also, Neptune Aviation declined to talk on camera
E-mail: ngonzales @ksl.com
