Challenger Crash Telluride CO
Just heard about this tonight. Condolences to the guys at the jet center in MIV, their families and those of the pax.
NBC Sports chief Ebersol survives plane crash
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[/font]BY VERNE GAY
Staff Writer
November 28, 2004, 9:23 PM EST
Dick Ebersol, the chairman of NBC Sports, was seriously injured in a fiery plane crash in Montrose, Colo., Sunday that claimed at least two lives. The airport serves Telluride, a ski resort in western Colorado.
NBC's Denver affiliate, KUSA-TV, said one of Ebersol's sons, Charles, also survived the crash but that another son, Teddy, was missing.
The crash occurred during takeoff Sunday at 10 a.m. local time in snowy weather, although a spokesman reached last night at the Montrose Police Department said it was unclear whether that was a factor.
Allen Kenitzer, regional Federal Aviation Administration spokesman, said the pilot, flight attendant and a passenger died when the plane burst into flames after crashing through a fence.
Sheriff's officials only confirmed two of the deaths and said two other passengers suffered life-threatening injuries.
They said the sixth person listed on the plane's manifest had not been found in the wreckage, which sent flames and black plumes of smoke into the sky.
Linda McCool, a nursing supervisor at Montrose Memorial Hospital, said three men were brought to the hospital after the crash but had been transferred to other hospitals by Sunday afternoon. McCool would not say where they were taken or describe their conditions.
Ebersol and his wife, actress Susan Saint James, have a home in Colorado, although she was not on the plane.
One of TV sports' most influential executives, Ebersol, 57, is most closely identified with the Olympics -- to which NBC holds exclusive U.S. broadcast rights through the 2012 Summer Games -- but he was also a driving force in one of TV's singular franchises: "Saturday Night Live."
After joining NBC in 1974 -- following a six-year stint as ABC Sports producer and Roone Arledge protege -- he and Lorne Michaels developed "SNL," although Michaels, the executive producer, would be most closely associated with the show during its near-three-decade run.
Ebersol was also executive producer from 1981 to 1985, considered by some fans to be a particularly solid stretch during the show's history.
Ebersol also had a brief but pivotal role at the "Today" show and in the network's selection of Jay Leno as Johnny Carson's replacement on "Tonight."
The crash occurred in an area covered with small brush and cedar trees, sheriff's Communications Supervisor David Learned said. A large drainage ditch also is at the site.
Eyewitness Chuck Distel told KUSA-TV that one of the wings and the cockpit were ripped off the plane. "There were two people outside the airplane when we pulled up. Both of them pretty much were in shock," he said.
Kenitzer identified the plane's tail number as N873G, a CL-601 Challenger registered to Jet Alliance of Millville, N.J. The plane is a twin-engine jet that can carry up to 16 passengers.
An operator at Jet Alliance said she had no information about the crash. Investigators from the FAA and National Safety Transportation Board were en route to the airport, 185 miles southwest of Denver.
Newsday staff writer Steve Zipay and wire services contributed to this story.
