Montana Plane Crashes in Butte Cemetery

It was a small single-engine plane that crashed near the Butte, Montana just few miles away from the Butte airport in a nearby cemetery. The time of the plane crash was around 2:30 PM according to Montana Standard.

The plane may have been carrying several young children who may have been heading for a ski vacation. Courtesy photo by Martha Guidoni. There are various reports as to how many people were killed in the plane accident. According to CNN and the AP the number is 17, but according to the local reports it's 16.

According to FAA, reported by AP "sixteen people, including several children, were killed when a small plane crashed Sunday in central Montana, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said.

"Spokesman Mike Fergus said the single engine turboprop plane departed from Oroville, Calif., and that the pilot had filed a flight plan showing a final destination of Bozeman.

"Fergus said the pilot canceled his flight plan at some point and headed for Butte. The plane crashed about 500 feet from the airport while attempting to land and caught fire."

Things such as flying anxiety and the fear of flying have been in many people's minds after the several plane crashes that dominated the news in the past few months. Some of the latest plane crashes in the recent months are

1. Hudson River Successful Plane Landing

2. Buffalo Plane Crash

3. Amsterdam Turkish Airlines Plane Crash

4. Fedex Cargo Plane Crash in Tokyo Today

5. Montana, Butte Plan Crash Today

Red flag about the Montana Plane crash

It does not make sense to me. In Wikipedia we read that the maximum number of people that can be seated in PC-12 is 9 people. However, reports say that 16-17 people were killed on board. My question is, did someone overload the plane? According to Wikipedia the PC-12 plane "is certified for single-pilot IFR operations, though operators may choose to utilize a second flight crew member. The PC-12 is offered in standard nine-seat airliner form, in a four-passenger seat/freight Combi version, as a six-seat corporate transport, and as a seven-seat corporate transport with the inclusion of an aft three-seat bench."

Our thoughts and prayers are with those that were on board of the Montana plan crash and their families.