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December 4, 2009

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Small plane crashes into mountain after leaving Las Vegas airport

Thursday, Oct. 14, 1999 | 11:18 a.m.

There was no immediate word as to whether the pilot survived.

Lt. Dwight Mahan, head of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police search and rescue squad, said the plane's flight plan indicated only one person was on board.

The plane left North Las Vegas Airport about 7:45 p.m. on a flight to Sacramento, Mahan said.

Ninety minutes after the crash, a search and rescue helicopter was trying to get two rescue workers lowered to the scene, which is accessible only by helicopter.

The wreckage was still burning more than an hour after the crash.

Kirsti Dunn, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Los Angeles, said another pilot observed the plane fly into Gass Peak Mountain in the Sheep Mountain range 18 miles north of Las Vegas.

Mahan said one of the metro police helicopters that patrol Las Vegas skies spotted flames from the crash and proceeded to the area to check it out.

The crash was at the 5,250-foot level of the mountain, according to Mahan.

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