Plane that took off from Twin Falls crashes, killing 2

TRUCKEE, Calif. – A private business jet heading from Idaho to California crashed and burst into flames Wednesday as it tried to land at an airport north of Lake Tahoe, killing both occupants.

The twin-engine Learjet 35 had taken off from Twin Falls, Idaho, and was scheduled to pick up two passengers at Truckee Tahoe Airport, said Bruce Nelson, a Federal Aviation Administration operations officer in Los Angeles. The Learjet 35 routinely carries a two-member crew and seats six to eight passengers.

Nelson said officials had yet to identify a potential cause of the 2 p.m. crash, but a storm had brought rain and high winds to the Sierra Nevada.

The occupants were not immediately identified.

The flight left Twin Falls sometime between noon and 1 p.m. PST, Twin Falls Airport Manager Bill Carberry said. In recent days, planes have been diverted to Twin Falls from the Sun Valley Airport in Hailey, Idaho, 70 miles to the north.

Weather was poor, with rain and winds of 23 mph and gusts hitting more than 40 mph at the time of the crash, he said. The airport had issued a warning on its Web page saying pilots might encounter “turbulence, downdrafts and wind shear.”