Friday March 30 12:18 AM ET Plane Crash in Colorado Kills 18

DENVER (Reuters) - All 18 people on board a Gulfstream jet were killed on Thursday when it crashed in snowy weather near a highway outside Aspen, Colorado, officials said.

``The crash occurred at 7 p.m. MST (9 p.m. EST). There was no distress call to the best of our knowledge,'' said Debbie Taylor at the Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites) office in Seattle.

A dispatcher at the Pitkin County sheriff's office said the crash occurred near Highway 82 just outside the posh ski resort. The highway was closed and traffic was diverted to nearby Snowmass Village, residents said.

``It was very close to the road. Thank God that he did not land on the road,'' Madeline Osberger, who was on the highway just after the crash, told Denver television station KWGN.

Witnesses said it was snowing at the time of the crash. Tim Jackson, a pilot, said landing at the airport in Aspen can be tricky and that the wreckage of the plane spread over an area 300 to 500 feet wide.

``That's a pretty gruesome sight,'' he said.

An FAA spokeswoman in Washington said the jet, carrying 15 passengers and three crew, had been on a flight from Los Angeles to Aspen. http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010330/ts/crash_gulfstream_dc_3.html

-- Carl Jenkins (somewherepress@aol.com), March 30, 2001