Six on Ski Trip Killed in Crash of Plane in Utah

A single-engine Cessna airplane from Southern California that was carrying six people, including three members of a West Covina family, to a skiing vacation crashed Sunday on approach to Salt Lake City International Airport, killing everyone on board, authorities said.

Authorities in the Salt Lake City suburb of West Valley said the plane apparently broke up in the air and crashed into an open field about five miles south of the airport, moments after witnesses said they heard the plane’s engine sputtering.

One witness, Mike Sutherland, was on his way to a friend’s house when he saw the plane’s right wing “blow completely apart” from the aircraft. “I watched the pieces fall out of the air, and then I looked back over and seen it go boom in the ground,” he said.

The plane’s pilot, Dr. Peter O. Macs, 48, of West Covina, had filed a flight plan from Ontario to Salt Lake City, West Valley police Lt. Steve Shreeves said.

Three other persons killed in the crash were identified by authorities as Macs’ wife, Biruta, and a daughter, Linda, 23, both of West Covina, and Kenneth Overton, 55, of Covina.

The names of the two other passengers were not immediately available, pending notification of next of kin.

Salt Lake airport controllers said the plane was approaching for a landing “when it just fell off the radar screen.” The airport had “normal radio contact” with the pilot before the crash, controllers added.

Federal Aviation Administration investigators said it would take several days to determine the probable cause of the crash.

The cloud ceiling at the time of the crash was about 800 feet and visibility extended for about 1 1/2 miles, safe enough to fly relying on instruments, FAA investigators said. But it was not immediately known if the dense fog that had been in the area in recent days contributed to the crash.

Skis and colorful, heavy clothing in the wreckage indicated that the victims were on a skiing trip, Shreeves said.