Posted on 11/28/2004 3:23:45 PM PST by mhking
MONTROSE, Colo. - NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol survived a charter plane crash on takeoff Sunday at Montrose Regional Airport, the network said in a statement through its Denver affiliate KUSA-TV.
At least two people — the pilot and the co-pilot — died in the crash, according to the network.
Ebersol and two other people were seriously injured, and rescuers were searching for a person listed on the plane’s manifest whose seat from the plane was missing from the wreckage.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
I know..... reports on the father Ebersol were quite different. But you know what they say about eyewitness testimony or reports.
I think from all the other posters and from yours that the younger son is already in a hospital.
Prayers for everyone from here.
That's a good point - the tow driver said he was all banged up, yet the other stories have said that he and his son Charlie were walking around the scene in a state of shock.
Done.
Apparently one adult son survived and a 14-year old son is missing.
DICK EBERSOL ESCAPES PLAN CRASH – YOUNGEST SON MISSING
2004-Nov-29 05:27
A charter plane carrying NBC Sports and Olympics chairman Dick Ebersol crashed and burst into flames during take-off yesterday ( Sunday) from a southwest Colorado airport, killing at least two people and seriously injuring Ebersol and one of his sons. Rescue crews were searching for another son.
Ebersol, 57, and son Charles Ebersol survived the crash at the Montrose Regional Airport, NBC said in a statement through its Denver affiliate KUSA-TV. An eyewitness Chuck said Charles helped his father out through the front of the plane, whose cockpit had been ripped off by the force of the crash. The station said crews searched for Edward "Teddy" Ebersol, 14, by helicopter and on the ground. NBC said the plane seat was missing from the wreckage. A local TV station said Ebersol's wife, actress Susan St. James, was not on the plane. Dick Ebersolhas a long history at NBC. He became director of late-night programming at NBC in 1974 and replaced Lorne Michaels for a rocky tenure as executive producer of "Saturday Night Live" in the early 1980s. He became president of NBC Sports in 1989 and recently signed a contract that keeps him at the network through 2012. Ebersol worked as an ABC researcher at the Grenoble Olympics in 1968. That began his love affair with the multisport event.
Kevin Roberts
kevinr@sportbusiness.com
I heard one son survived and is injured and one son is missing.
I hate myself for speculating but it seems more and more likely to me that an aborted takeoff was attempted. I just heard Charles McCord (Imus) say that the pilots were killed instantly and read earlier in the thread that the plane went through a fence and a ditch. If the plane "tucked" into the ditch, it may explain the total breakup after that.
Distel, who was driving on a highway that runs parallel to the runway, saw the plane as it skidded sideways off the runway, went though a fence and brush before hitting a roadway that ripped the cockpit from the plane and left it an unrecognizable wreck separate from the plane.
An "older gentleman" with gray straight hair and a "younger gentleman with shorter, dark hair," were walking around outside the wreckage as Distel and an airport official arrived at the scene.
"I had to think for a second, 'Who are these people?"' he said. "They weren't severely injured, they were in shock."
He said the older gentleman, whom he later identified as Ebersol from pictures showed to him by other reporters, didn't say a word as the younger man cried and yelled, "Oh my God! Oh my God!"
An airport official yelled into the plane looking for survivors, but heard none. The plane, which had left a burning trail of jet fuel, burst into flames that forced Distel and other rescuers away from the wreckage.
The younger man was able to climb into an ambulance while Ebersol was loaded onto a stretcher, Distel said.
A witness said the impact ripped the cockpit from the fuselage, and that Charles Ebersol helped his 57-year-old father to safety through the front of the plane.
A second son, 14-year-old Edward, was missing, Denver NBC affiliate KUSA-TV reported. The station said crews searched by helicopter and on the ground, but that even "Teddy" Ebersol’s plane seat could not be found. A Montrose County Sheriff’s spokeswoman said the boy had not been located by late Sunday.
A horrific scene that you describe.
Jim Nance (CBS Sports), who was already scheduled, will be on with Imus at 0830 ET.
First thing I do when I settle into my plane seat is slip out of my shoes, for comfort purposes.
George Lewis, NBC News, is reporting that the pilots had not elected to deice the airplane. It had been on the ramp for about an hour before departure. He also reported that (quoting the Denver Post) an eye witness saw the aircraft barely lift off before crashing.
Thanks!
14-Year-Old Son Still Missing
POSTED: 8:12 pm EST November 28, 2004
UPDATED: 8:12 am EST November 29, 2004
MONTROSE, Colo. -- Rescuers are still searching for the 14-year-old son of NBC sports chairman Dick Ebersol. Ebersol and another son escaped the fiery wreckage of a corporate jet that crashed after takeoff yesterday in Colorado.
The jet lifted off briefly before it crashed and burned, according to a report in the Denver Post.
The pilot and co-pilot died in the crash at Montrose Regional Airport. Ebersol and his older son, Charles, survived, but Teddy Ebersol is missing. The boy's seat wasn't found in the smoldering wreckage.
Hospital officials say three injured men were treated. Federal officials say a flight attendant was also on board.
Perhaps the explosion as the plane was taking off might have something to do with the boy missing. Look further back down the runway.
Dear Lord, I was afraid of that.
He could be underneath the wreakage. If his seat was towards the front of the aircraft when the cockpit was ripped off, it could have tucked under the floor of the fuselage with the son in it.
"pilot elected not to de-ice"
Starting to sound similar the cause of the Wash DC Air Florida crash 20+ years ago. Too much snow or ice on the control surfaces of the plane could reduce its lift capacity, and extend the liftoff beyond the available runway. One of the reports said the takeoff was during near-whiteout conditions.
Ebersol was returning to South Bend because his son, Chris, is a senior at ND who was returning after the holiday.
Prayers to their family.
Sorry, s/b son, Charles.
(And already old news on this thread anyway.)
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