It has been nearly two years since a small plane crashed on approach to University Park Airport in State College, killing the six on board who had flown from Florida for a Penn State University lacrosse game.
The National Transportation Safety Board has yet to identify the cause of the crash but last week issued a report on it.
The report says that the single-engine Pilatus PC-12 left Naples, Fla., just before 10 a.m. on March 26, 2005, that the last radio contact with the pilot was at 1: 45 p.m. and that the plane dropped off radar at 1: 48 p.m. The crash occurred just before 2 p.m.
When it crashed, its landing gear was down, the flaps up and the de-icing equipment on, the report states.
A witness told investigators he saw the airplane banking steeply before it started spiraling. The wings were "almost straight up and down," and the airplane made eight to 10 circles, he said. Another witness told investigators the plane's right wing was up before the plane crashed, nose down.
The pilot, Jeffrey Jacober, 51, of Providence, Fla., had instrument certification and had disengaged the autopilot, the NTSB report said. An autopsy detected no evidence of drugs or carbon monoxide poisoning.
An evaluation by the engine manufacturer, Pratt and Whitney Canada, found no anomalies in the plane.
Jacober; his wife, Karen; and their son Eric, 15, were killed. They'd been headed to Penn State to watch the couple's son Michael, 21, play lacrosse. Also killed in the crash were Gregg Weingeroff, 49; his wife, Dawn, 42; and their son, Leland, 10.
Copyright 2005 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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