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Radar Record Shows Plane Turned Before Plunging

Posted: 12:14 pm PDT October 12, 2007Updated: 1:49 pm PDT October 12, 2007

The National Transportation Safety Board released some new information on Friday about an airplane crash that killed 10 people near White Pass.

The Safety Board released a photo of the crash site that shows the wreckage of the Cessna 208B.

Investigators said the radar record indicates the plane made a tight, 360-degree turn before losing 1,400 feet in 12 seconds. It then appeared to recover, and it maintained altitude at 13,000 feet briefly before diving at 6,800 feet per minute. The plane was at 8,900 feet when it was last detected by radar.

Investigators said there was bad weather in the area at the time of the crash.

They said no flight plan had been filed.

Meanwhile, rough weather near White Pass forced a helicopter to suspend its attempt to recover the wreckage of the plane.

National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said it will try again Saturday. Investigators plan to take the wreckage to a hangar in Seattle where it can be examined.

A pilot and nine skydivers died in the crash Sunday evening as they were returning from a weekend skydiving trip near Boise, Idaho. Authorities have declined to speculate on what might have caused the plane to nosedive into the trees just east of the Cascade crest.

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