Raton, NM Private Plane Crashes Into Mountainside, Aug 1978

SIX DIE IN PLANE'S CRASH INTO MOUNTAIN PEAK.

Raton, N. M. (AP) -- A light plane carrying five Pittsburgh, Pa., residents and one Iowa man smashed into a mountain peak seven miles west of Raton during a thunderstorm killing all aboard.
State police identified the victims as RONALD MULLEN, 37; RICHARD HORNIC, 51; DANIEL SCHNEIDER, 27; MIKE JAWORSKI, age unavailable; and JIM O'DONNELL, age unavailable, all of Pittsburgh; and JAMES ARTHUR BISHOP, 57, of Sergeant Bluff, Iowa.
Officials said MULLEN was the pilot.
PAM GREEN of the state police office in Raton said the victims were going hunting in Vermejo Park about 40 miles west of Raton in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.
She said the plane was going to land at Crews Field near Raton. The plane crashed about three miles northwest of the airport.
State police found the bodies Sunday and said they were being taken to Albuquerque.
Col. EARL LIVINGSTON of the New Mexico Civil Air Patrol said a ground team reached the wreckage shortly early Sunday.
The pilot radioed at 8:30 p.m. Friday that he could see the landing lights and the airport. That was the last word from the aircraft.
LIVINGSTON said the peak where the wreckage was found was at the head of Mule Canyon.
He said the plane stopped to refuel in Kansas City, Mo., en route to Raton.

Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune Missouri 1978-08-28
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!