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Siskiyou plane crash kills 3 Craft left Ashland without flight plan in heavy clouds By SARAH LEMON Three people were killed Wednesday when their twin-engine airplane crashed into a mountainside about a mile northeast of Pilot Rock. The victims' names were not released Wednesday. The crash's severe impact made it difficult for Jackson County Sheriff's Department search and rescue teams to identify how many people were involved. Officials said they believe, however, that everyone aboard the craft died. Response crews were still trying to figure out what happened and secure the scene Wednesday until Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board investigators could arrive. The twin-engine Beechcraft left the Ashland airport between 7 and 7:30 a.m. heading south toward the Siskiyou Mountains, said Bob Skinner, Ashland airport fixed base operator. The plane was apparently trying to clear the peaks when it crashed into a north-facing mountain slope about three miles southeast of the Interstate 5 Siskiyou Summit, said Jackson County Sheriff's Sgt. Ken Curtis. The plane left the Ashland airport before scheduled operating hours without filing an instrument flight plan, Skinner said. Heavy clouds obscuring the Siskiyous made flying south Wednesday morning without a flight plan inadvisable, he said. The pilot landed at the Ashland airport Tuesday night. Skinner said he had seen the pilot at the airport a few times over the past couple of years, but that the plane is not based in Ashland. A Bureau of Land Management employee located the luggage- and paper-littered wreck around 12:30 p.m. This is the first plane crash in Jackson County this year, Sheriff's Department officials said. The crash scene was secured Wednesday night, and Sheriff's Department, FAA and NTSB investigators were scheduled to return this morning. Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.