DENVER -- Eight people are confirmed dead after a corporate jet registered to Circuit City Inc. crashed and burned while attempting an instrument-approach landing at the Pueblo airport Wednesday morning.
A Citation 560 similar to this one crashed in Pueblo, killing everyone on board. Slideshow: Deadly Pueblo Plane Crash
There were no survivors. A pilot, co-pilot and six passengers were on board the ill-fated flight, according to the sheriff's department.
The twin-engine Cessna Citation 560 crashed shortly before 9:15 a.m., in a field near Chico Road, about 5 miles east of the Pueblo Memorial Airport.The Federal Aviation Administration said it lost radar contact with the plane just as it was approaching the airport.A second corporate jet belonging to Circuit City flew over the burning wreckage a few minutes later as it made a safe landing at the airport. The two jets were stopping in Pueblo for refueling before continuing on to California.The eight people who flew on the second jet sat in the airport lobby, hugging and sobbing.The weather at the time of the crash was drizzly and overcast, with freezing temperatures, according to Steve Bryant with the sheriff's department. The airport temperature was 27 degrees at the time of the crash.Deputies set up a road block leading into the property where the plane crashed. A "Go Team" from the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington arrived Wednesday afternoon. The team can number from three or four, to more than a dozen specialists assigned on a rotational basis to respond as quickly as possible to the scene of an accident.
Only a small section of the plane is visible in in a field, taken from the media staging area.
Sheriff Dan Corsentino told reporters that two witnesses said they heard loud popping noises coming from the jet shortly before it went down.The planes were heading to John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, Calif. They left New Jersey earlier in the morning. Pueblo Airport is a popular refueling stop for aircraft because it is less busy than some other airports in the area.Circuit City Stores, Inc., released a statement that said four of the people on board the aircraft were employees of the company. The statement said that no officers of the company were on board.
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