Ex-Microsoft exec dies in plane crash

SEATTLE – Jeffrey M. Harbers, who was one of Microsoft Corp.’s first employees and was instrumental in developing early versions of its immensely successful Office business software, has died in a single-engine plane crash in Montana.

Pilot Jason Barton, 31, of Yukon, Okla., also was killed when their single-engine plane crashedshortly after takeoff Saturday afternoon from the airport in Big Timber, a coroner said Sunday.

Harbers, 54, owned a ranch near Big Timber and also lived in the upscale Seattle suburb of Medina, near Microsoft’s Redmond campus.

The aircraft was registered to Harbers’ venture capital firm, JMH Capital LLC in Medina, according to a Federal Aviation Administration database.

In the 1980s, Harbers led engineering and development of Office, the immensely popular software for word processing, spreadsheets and presentations.

Office continues to be one of Microsoft’s most successful products, raking in billions of dollars in profits for the company.

Harbers left Microsoft in the early 1990s to pursue ranching and other interests.

Prior to working at Microsoft, Harbers also had worked in Alaska on the pipeline and at a research center in Antarctica. He graduated from the University of Washington in 1974 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, the university said.

Saturday’s flight was instructional, with Barton instructing Harbers, said James Struhsaker, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board.

However, Struhsaker said Harbers was a fully qualified pilot. The aircraft had dual controls and Struhsaker said he did not know who was piloting the plane when it crashed.

Struhsaker said Harbers and Barton had flown from Billings to Big Timber and planned to fly to Payne Field near Seattle.

Sweet Grass County Coroner Joseph Hansen said the plane and the victims were badly burned.

The bodies were taken to Billings for autopsies.

The plane crashed in a pasture about a mile east of the south-central Montana airport, said Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Kerry O’Connell.

The wreckage was spread over an area 300 to 400 yards long and 150 to 200 yards wide, she estimated.

Investigators from the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board arrived at the crash site early Sunday along with representatives from Pilatus, manufacturer of the PC12/47 aircraft, O’Connell said.