E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Joshua Lott / Reuters
A Maricopa County Sheriff Police helicopter flies over the Superstition Mountains searching for victims of a plane that crashed in Apache Junction, Arizona on Thursday.
Updated 11:55a.m. ET
The six victims of a plane crash in Arizona were identified by authorities late Thursday. The victims included the pilot and his three young children who were to spend the Thanksgiving weekend with him.
Their small, twin-engined airplane slammed into a sheer cliff on Wednesday evening in the rugged, mile-high Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix and exploded.
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu confirmed that the dead included pilot Shawn Perry, 39, his daughter Morgan Perry, 9, and his two sons Logan Perry, 8, and Luke Perry, 6, who all lived with their mother in the community of Gold Canyon in Pinal County. Their father lived in Safford in southeastern Arizona and owned a small aviation business there.
He had flown to the Phoenix suburb of Mesa with another pilot who co-owned the company and a company mechanic to pick up the children for Thanksgiving. The plane was headed back to Safford when it crashed.
The other pilot was identified as Russell Hardy, 31, of Thatcher, Ariz., who Babeu said had a three-year-old son.
The mechanic was Joseph Hardwick, 22, of Safford, who Babeu said was engaged and due to be married on Dec. 16.
A small aircraft carrying six people, including three children, slammed into the rugged peaks of the Superstition Mountain in Arizona. All aboard are believed to be dead. NBC's Jeff Rossen has more details.
Babeu said he personally notified the mother of the three children late Wednesday. The woman, who is divorced from the children's father, is also a pilot.
"This is their entire family — it's terrible," Babeu said. "Our hearts go out to the mom and the (families) of all the crash victims. We have has so many people that are working this day, and we just want to support them and embrace them and try to bring closure to this tragedy."
There was no indication the plane was in distress or that the pilot had radioed controllers about any problem, the sheriff said.
It was very dark at the time, and the plane missed clearing the peak by only several hundred feet. The aircraft slammed into an area of rugged peaks and outcroppings in the Superstition Mountains, 40 miles east of downtown Phoenix, at about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, authorities said.
The plane was a Rockwell AC-690A and was registered to Ponderosa Aviation Inc. in Safford, which Babeu said was co-owned by Perry.
Kenitzer said the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board would be investigating the cause of the crash.
Update at 11:55a.m. ET: Friends and acquaintances are lending support to the mother of the three children who were killed in the crash, the Associated Press reported.
Karen Perry, of Apache Junction, Ariz., was described as a selfless woman trying to raise her three children. Morgan, 9, was diagnosed with epilepsy and faced multiple brain surgeries. Luke, 6, had autism. Perry's third child, Logan, was 8.
"They were just great kids," said Mark Blomgren, principal at Peralta Trail Elementary in Apache Junction, where the two oldest children attended. "All the teachers were naturally shocked. They cared about them and wondered how their mom was doing and they were just hit pretty hard. Logan and Morgan were just special kids that the teachers really bonded with."
It also emerged that the plane missed clearing the peak by several hundred feet, the Associated Press reported.
Leave a Comment:
There wasn't enough room for a second Luke Perry.
TO Larolds..This is hardly the time for a smarta$$ remark. You are all A$$! My heart goes out to the family.
I bet you thought that was funny....only a shallow minded idiot would make a remark like that...nobody's laughing, you pathetic jerk...you're more to be pitied than anything else!!!!
Some of you people act like nobody ever dies. Get over it. You will be there one day sooner than you realize. Save the sappy, whiny, anger-at-anybody-who-isn't-distraught, for yourself.
Actually it was pretty funny, and if you have ever been to a funeral, it seems like theres more jokes cracked there than at a roast. How about you people who want to condemn the joker just go cry in your corner alone. Those who condemn become the condemned. In no religion does it say it's ok for man to judge man, so how about you let good ol god do the judging and you people come down off your high horses for good. effin stupid people.
I want you to REMEMBER this moment of insensitivity the day you pick up the phone and it's your loved one who's dead. Recall your cold, callousness and just say to yourself "oh well, we'll all be there one day anyway".
You area PIG of a man!
Oh yeah right, Rick's Real, as if I haven't experienced the death of somebody close! You must be a kid, or some lily-livered, emotional wreck. Reality is cold and callous sometimes, especially if you have been living in fantasy land or had your head buried in the old proverbial sand for your whole life. A realist would sound callous to somebody like that.
I can only imagine the pain of loss for the victims families. My heart and prayers go out to them in this awful time of grief. May God hold and embrace them with his tender mercy.
Amen
Gob's will be done.
There has to be heaven, people should not hurt so much and feel so helpless, there is someone grieving somewhere in this world every minute of everyday of lost love ones...God is our only savior, if you don't believe now, you will later.
Where was god when this plane filled with innocent children slammed into the mountain creating the pain to start with? If that is god's love, then he's a hate filled creature undeserving of anything close to worship.
I will pray for you.
Innocent children die as a result of sin in the world. God has done His part to give us power over sin, such as sacrificing Jesus on the cross to atone for those sins. If Mankind refuses to acknowledge God, then the end result is Man's fault yet we refuse to accept due to our arrogance and pride.
Why is it when there is a tragedy people either blame God or talk about how children die as a result of sin.........Please stop with the guilt and blame. Jesus NEVER said that and he said it is our job to relieve suffereing whenever we can...........not pull out this so called Christian judgemntal crap and rub it in people's faces...............how unChristian is that?????? God does NOT demand we behave any way in order to "save our children"........stuff happens........and sometimes it is just tragic. No matter so many people turn away from arrogant "so called Chrisitians"...........you should be ashamed........offer comfort instead of judgement and arrogance.................
C Wood, before posting a comment that is pure hate and faithless then you had better read the bible and learn about God and why things happen like this. It has nothing to do with God being a hate filled creature as you say. Learn about God before you post your bologna.
One child was an epileptic facing multiple dangerous brain surgeries. The next oldest was autistic. Both were from a split home. Maybe God was there, sparing them the future pain of their individual existences.
Whatever the case, who takes little kids flying at night near unlit mountains? What's wrong with waiting till daylight when you can see how high the mountains are?
Any god who is unwilling and/or unable to prevent such a tragedy is worthy of nothing more than my contempt and scorn, not mindless worship.
Michael - you are suggesting that your god intentionally killed these children due to "sin". It's very typical of Christians to blame victims in such a way, since they live in a Stone Age realm of delusion where everything from earthquakes to hailstorms to premature deaths are due to "angry gods". How can anybody walk around thinking this way? Go sacrifice a sheep to your angry god.
Meanwhile, I can't imagine anything more hurtful to this grieving mother than to suggest that her children were murdered by a god because of his anger at "sin".
How about God put us all here to live our lives and whatever happens, happens, with no hand from him, either good or bad??? Everyone either wants to find God during a tragedy or says that any good God wouldn't let it happen. Maybe God just doesn't interfere and gave us free will for a reason.
Everything happens according to God's plan, doesn't it?
HE planned this.
They are with Their heavenly Father now...May God Bless the remaining Family members.
No, they are not. They are dead.
I can't imagine what the loved ones of of these 6 are going thru. There's no words of comfort, only prayer that time will somehow dull the pain.
Either prayer, or Vicodin
Bad joke. My aunt was on something like this but no longer. She said it made her woozy. Again, bad joke and tasteless.
Works better than prayer tho'...anything works better than prayer.
The poor mom. :(
Yes, ibog, she and the other 'survivors' truly are the victims here. Those in the plane have returned to the great quietude from whence we all have come and to which we will all go, but she has been left behind in a world of darkness and agony. I cannot, dare not, imagine a worse blackness than she has been cast into by an uncaring universe. I mourn for her, and for myself, I suppose, through her. If only there were a healing 'induced coma' for this kind of head injury. Maybe 'faith' is as close as a human can get to such a thing. Even her home, her haven, will be a hell for her with every glance bringing back the full impact of her loss. I hope she has another safe refuge that she might be able to crawl into and try to reassemble herself without constant stabbing reminders of her loss. May the rest of us be spared such ... there really are no words for this...
It warms my crying heart to see our Heavenly Father recognized.
Thak you.
By Heavenly Father, you mean the guy responsible for this tragic accident right? The one with the master plan?
ACepero, do you really think this is the correct forum for you to be expounding your agnostic/atheistic attitudes?
You need to understand that God gave us free will, and he's not 'responsible' for those events that occur from us exercising our own will. We're personally responsible for our own choices; choices to fly in the dark through dangerous terrain, the choice to not believe in God or Jesus Christ, the choice to sow bitter thoughts denouncing the faith of others in an inappropriate forum.
Please take your derogatory remarks elsewhere; they don't belong on this thread.
Thank you.
Mark T., do you really think this is the correct forum for you to be expounding your christian attitudes?
You need to understand that there is no such thing as free will. You make your choices based upon the genetics and the information your brain processes. It's a lot of nature and a bit of nurture. We are less responsible for our own choices than you propose. By the way, your hysterical claim for christ essentially denounces all other religions. So find yourself an appropriate forum. Stop sowing the thoughts that other gods are false and that yours is the only one. Bottom line is... you don't know.
Take your xtian remarks elsewhere; they don't belong on this thread.
Mark T - So you're saying that this god gave the man the free will to fly his plane into a mountain and kill himself, his sons, and his friends? Sounds like your god has some 'splaining to do.
You folks do realize that those effected may be reading what you're writing, right?
If one believes in god, that is. Many of us don't, as is our right.
Yet YOU can denounce the lack of faith in others in this "inappropriate" forum -- what a hypocrite.
galaxy-
go spew your agenda somewhere else. you don't have all the answers either.
where did mark t. denounce other people's faiths? i think he was talking about choices? typical of a nonbeliever- making up stuff that isn't even there. who's "hysterical" now?
p.s. the more hateful you are to believers, the stronger our faith becomes.
You know, this article isn't about you...any of you...or me. I don't happen to believe in God and I could post about that, and if I did I could post about that as well, but really how about instead of arguing of whether there is a God or not we just express some sympathy for a mother who lost three children, a young man who was a young father who has a child who won't remember him and a grieving wife and parents, and another young man who now has a grieving fiance who will never get to marry her love?
If you want to send prayers, healing energy, nothing at all, good thoughts, or say you are sorry for the huge losses described in this story that is great, but if you want to argue religion how about doing it in another forum or on a more appropriate thread? It isn't what any of us believe that matters here, but that these families get support and comfort in their time of loss. Kindness and caring matter a lot more than whether a God did anything or not....please people, show some compassion for the victims and families instead of bickering.
Kiki…
Imagine you are ambushed by a thug in a dark alley. He jams what feels like a gun in your back and asks for your money and valuables. Certainly, most people in that situation would fork them over. Months later the assailant is caught and brought to trial where in his defense he claims… "I didn't commit a criminal act; I presented that person a choice to hand over his possessions or not and he elected to give them to me. He could have refused if he had wanted to but he acted out of his own free will."
Do you see the problem in this scenario ? Would any such defense be allowed? No intelligent judge or jury would permit this because the thug's assertion that you acted out of free will is false. In order for a decision to be GENUINELY free the person/people making the choice must recognize the alternatives and probable ramifications of the options. Most importantly, there can be positively NO coercion involved. If there are threats, bullying or any amount of undue pressure applied to maneuver you toward a choice, then you are NOT acting out of free will.
There is no free will when it comes to alleged gods. They claim an infinite punishment for you. This is the absolute pinnacle of coercion.
Please give it a rest, people.
Those of us who believe, believe. Those who don't, don't.
There are six human beings no longer alive to be with their families. And the family members who are here must be going through excruciating pain at this time. They have not only the loss of loved ones but the business of caring for their remains and final resting places. It is very difficult to absorb this tragedy for the family...much less have to do all the other things associated with the deaths.
Think for a moment about how the surviving family members will always view Thanksgiving for the rest of their lives.
Think about how they will be this Christmas...and every Christmas after this one.
Send out your prayers or thoughts of care to the families of the victims...and think carefully for a moment...maybe some of these family members will be reading your words. I hope no one here on the Vine would want to cause more pain or sorrow.
I dont recall seeing that GOD made this aircraft or even flew this aircraft. Man did both, and man and machine are both falible. We are free to choose and to live as we want to including taking the risks we want to......so man up and quit whining and crying about GOD did this.
This is a man made tragedy, but a tragedy non the less. My condolences to the families and friends.
OMG, Kiki - you just summed up what makes religion so ludicrous!
making up stuff based on a book of fairy tales....
jebus christ!
YOUR god is made up - he isn't even there.
HAHAHAHA!
It's amazing how some people choose to take sincere sympathetic wishes for the victims of this tragedy and twist those wishes into a selfish, politically-driven forum for their intolerant views of the faith others hold.
Note my choice of word "faith" vs. "religion". Believe it or not, it's possible to have the first without the second.
Azrancher - thank you for supporting my statement concerning choice and free will. Your point is well-stated, and entirely accurate.
Monkey@Keyboard and Azrancher, WTG. Great posts.
This is unbelievable, This woman has just lost all her children. This thread has become a forum for idiots to banter over whether God exists or not. Who cares, This woman is going to be hurting whether she is believer or not. That is human nature and I think we are all human, well maybe some aren't.
I know what it is to lose a child, my son in his 30th year to a freak accident. I still cannot imagine losing all my children.
You all need to take a breather, take a moment of personal reflection and show some HUMAN compassion.
I pray that those who were lost are taken into the loving embrace of God, and that His loving touch reaches out to comfort those who mourn.
Wouldn't it have been better for him to use all of that god power of his and prevent the plane crash?
Wouldn't it be better if everyone made their own condolences or observations about this hideous tragedy in the way that each writer sees fit and and just move on without editorializing about how "your post is wrong but mine is right". This is about the untimely death of six people - three of them children. Can we please keep the perspective of the subject and respect for others while not necessarily agreeing??? If I posted a retort for every comment I didn't like or found offensive, there wouldn't be enough hours in the day to be banging away at these keys.
Monkey@Keyboard's comment at 8.5 has echoed my thoughts on this since I started reading these comments years ago. So many people just insist on hateful, hurtful posts and for what reason??? What does it gain anyone by spewing the hate???
That said...my Prayers and sincere condolences to the families and friends of these victims. May GOD strengthen them and provide comfort and HIS peace.
2chefaz..." So many people just insist on hateful, hurtful posts and for what reason??? What does it gain anyone by spewing the hate??? "
I think you know who is behind this and what is to be gained
The time is coming that we will need to stand on one side or the other, the line is being drawn.
I already know what side of the line I'm on. Where are you??? No sarcasm here - honest question. You can leave it on my home page, if you prefer.
Believer brother, If you know "The Stand" I am headed for Colorado.
I am a lady, standswithfist and apologize but had to look up "The Stand". Not in any way familiar with it. I stand on The Word. JOSHUA 25:15 and HIS Risen SON, who is my KING, LUKE 19:38, JOHN 20:31.
Have read your post at 8:15. My most sincere condolences to you. They say that is the worst thing that could happen to a person. You are in my Prayers.
Then it is sister, I stand corrected. I think about him everyday. I don't know where I would be without my faith.
As a fellow pilot I am saddened by this news. I can only try to imagine the grief these families are experiencing. Flying is a great sport but it has it's dangers like anything else. Unfortunately most crashes turn out to be pilot error.
I cannot imagine. I would be so lost.
R.I.P.
What a tragedy for all of these families.... I mother who lost her children (and an ex, someone she loved at one time and may still have), a son who lost his father and a wife who lost her husband, and a fiancee' who lost her hopes and dreams....
What a tragedy for the fiance.
She'll have to return all those gifts now
My thoughts and prayers go out to the families involved in this tragic plane crash. The pain has to be gut-wrenching.
I don't quite understand this statement in the reporter's story --- "the plane missed clearing the peak by only several hundred feet." Only several hundred feet? Sounds to me like a small plane missed the clearing one hell of a lot.
The AC-690 has a climb rate of over 3000 feet per minute. When you look at it from that perspective, he would have cleared the mountain by initiating a hard climb just a few seconds earlier. My deepest sympathies to the families.
The maximum altitude you can fly in that sector of airspace is 5,000 feet, which means you have to fly a few hundred feet under that to stay legal. The peak was 5,071 feet, so that's why he was a little low to get over it. However, it is very easy to aim to either the left or right of that peak to fly past it. I've flown from that airport many times and it is very simple to miss that small peak. That pilot lives in the area, so he and a million other people who live there knows the Superstition Mountains are there. The taller peaks climb to 8,200 feet further east. The only way to hit those mountains is intentionally. I say that because their destination, Safford, isn't even that direction. You would take a more SE heading to Safford. It makes no sense to fly over the mountains to the east to get there.
BP, correct me if I am wrong, but I believe it is controlled airspace over 5000 feet, meaning it is OK to fly higher with permission of air-traffic control. From what I have read, I do not believe permission was ever requested.
I imagine the lawyers are already lining up over this crash. There was an incident about ten years ago in North Carolina where a lawyer, his wife, her aunt, and their college age son and daughter were flying to South Carolina to a New Year's party. He had a twin engine Beech. They crashed about ten mile before the airport & all were killed. The FAA ruled it pilot error, speculating the plane was overloaded. Even though this guy was a hotshot lawyer, no wills were found for him, his wife, or either of their kids. Her parents sued his estate on behalf of their daughter and both of the kids, the aunt's husband sued both of their estates, and of course, everyone involved sued both the plane manufacturer and the airport operator where the plane was based. By the time the dust had settled, 39 separate lawsuits had been filed over this one crash. I don't know if they ever got things sorted out.
I could never sue over a death. I love my family too much to put a price tag on any of them.
Catzenjammer - your story is reminiscent of the fact that John Kennedy, Jr.'s in-laws sued his family for the death of their two daughters. Why doesn't anyone consider the fact that everyone on the plane in your story and in the case of JFK, Jr., voluntarily made the choice to be on the plane in the first place? The only people in this current story who possibly did not have any choice in the matter were the children.
Did they sue the janitor at the airport?
ACepero,
Thank you for pointing out that which should be obvious to everyone but sadly isn't.
Blessings and condelences to all of the family and friends of those involved...
This is very sad for the loved ones left behind and I hope that they can get through this tragedy with peace.
To Mark T. : ACepero has the right to post whatever he/she pleases. If God can be mentioned than so can other perspectives.
Thank you.
i think what he meant was it isn't appropriate to viciously attack someone for their religious beliefs. if someone would like to express their condolences and God/religion is mentioned, people who don't believe shouldn't use the forum to "preach" to those who do believe. the close-mindedness of nonbelievers is astounding these days.
And believers shouldn't be using the forum during a tragedy to try to expound on what a great gift their god is. "The tragedy proves how great God is, and you will become closer to God because of it". Talk about insensitive...
It goes both ways. How about we all focus on the story and not proving who is right just for once?
Knock off the arguing, guys.
You're taking the X out of Xmas.
I pray that the precious Mother, can hold onto the wonderful times and memories of her children, former husband and the other men that perished in the crashl. God Bless them all.
I'm guessing since he's a "former husband" that she won't be reminiscing too much over the "wonderful times" she had with him. If it was that wonderful, they wouldn't be divorced.
Just feel the sadness, keep your beliefs, to yourself. I sometimes think these things happens to test the rest of us still left in this world. Just a test of compassion, humility, and helping others through such a tragic event. Put yourself in the mothers place and can you imagine what a kind word from even a stranger would mean. The talk about lawyers and evil gods and B&%#&t does'nt really help the situation at all.
Tim - everyone is entitled to express his or her opinion just like you have done. This comment session was not started merely to express condolences to the mother or other family members involved. I doubt that she will even be reading these posts. Is that what you would be doing if you had just lost your family...reading posts on MSNBC?
I am so sorry.
"For everything there is a reason" The family left behind is praying to God to give them strength and courage, they will take this experience and help thousands, the lives lost are not in vain.
How do you know that the "family left behind" even believes in a god? How do you have any idea what they are doing at the moment?
AZ mom
If you were any more self-centered, God would be praying to you.
Rapid crowd movement and competitive shopping are politically correct terms for stampede and assault and battery. It will give the defense attorney a new term. She should not be charged with assault but competitive shopping. Robbing in the parking lot can be called hostile present transfer. Stampede has such a negative effect. Killing in the parking lot could be, "he took the presents after the owner was euthanized in the parking lot".
I would like to see the various security cameras on these Walmart.
Umm...wrong story...try again.
How is God involved in the accident? How do we know what God was thinking? Both sides of that seem senseless. Just my so called opinion but we will find out in the end if God exists or not. I venture to say He does. You have to look at all creation and say there was a designer and creator of that. But again, everyone has their beliefs and we will see which one is true. And we all have freedom of speech. That would include those, who share the good news with all. And, who have had to stand up in the face of government for that right. Some are in prisons and some had to stand in the court of law. So everyone has the right don't shut the mouth of the ones with the Good news neither. There is a danger to you as it encourages that right to be taken from all. Don't think it far fetched because all beliefs are under attack and government all over the world would like to control your speech. Even in the U.S. And I was a veteran and now I share the good news with others. Careful it can happen as they are trying to do all sorts of things here to control things. It's a different day here in the U.S.
Why must anyone sue anyone. It was an ACCIDENT, a tragic accident. We live in a world that it always have to be someone else's fault and they must pay. Why drag on the grief trying to blame someone and besides suing means money and any money awarded would be "death money" .... money you can never spend because it meant the death of your loved ones. bad luck money
Terrie This is what 'corporate' has corrupted us into, a world where everything, even profound grief, has a PRICE. As a society, we have been coerced into placing money, greed, over everything. There are many people in America who have wholeheartedly 'bought' into this contemptible value void where all human values are deprecated to profit, and loss such as this might be assuaged with a high enough payoff. This is what our children have been and are being led into by the propagandists who bombard us daily with idiocy and lies. How else could we have let the bushcabal or any other pathological Authority kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people and put millions of people into the grief we must believe to be in this case, in our name. It's why, for so many others in the world, we have become the 'Great Satan', all that is evil. Because, as long as there is 'profit', nothing else matters and, yes, it is "death money" and we see the 'luck' it has brought us. And religion in America is a wholly-owned subsidiary of corporate. A resurgence of altruism in America is our only hope but it must overcome a torrent of poison which has sickened us almost to national death. Any solutions on your end? All I can see in history as a cure is the guillotine.
whether you do believe or you don't makes no difference,god had nothing to do with this, seems to be pilot error. god can't keep all bad things from happening, and he never said he would. there is a reason for all things that happen