Investigators are continuing to collect facts and examine evidence from the airplane tragedy that killed six people Saturday when it crashed near Bellefonte. "We've finished up the on-scene investigation," said Senior Air Safety Investigator Paul Cox of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). "We're going to go back and start writing the preliminary report."
The engine of the plane will be examined after it has been transported in the next few days to a storage facility in Delaware, Cox said. "I may be looking at some components [of the engine]," Cox said.
The crash occurred shortly before 2 p.m. Saturday along Route 150, near Bellefonte, in the construction area of the new Centre County Correctional Facility. The individuals who died in the crash were identified as Jeffrey Jacober, 51; Karen Jacober, 49; Eric Jacober, 15; Gregg Weingeroff, 49; Dawn Weingeroff, 42; and Leland Weingeroff, 10; all from Providence, R.I. Jeffrey Jacober, the pilot of the Pilatus PC-12 airplane, Karen Jacober and Eric Jacober are the parents and brother of Michael Jacober, the captain of the Penn State men's lacrosse team.
Dante Bellini Jr., a friend and business associate of the Jacober family, said Michael and his older brother David have returned to Rhode Island for the memorial service of the family. The service will be held at 11 a.m. tomorrow in the Temple Beth El in Providence. A statement released yesterday by the Penn State Athletics Department said the men's lacrosse team will attend the service.
Centre County Administrative Services Director Tim Boyde said the NTSB would continue the fact-finding phase of the investigation, though the on-scene investigation has concluded.
"The fuselage is currently loaded on a flat bed truck ready for transport [Tuesday] morning," he said.
Cox said the next step in the investigation would be the release of the findings in a preliminary report.
"I'm going to try to get it out by the end of this week," Cox said. "I think the biggest thing is to wait for the report."
Bellini said the Jacobers, who always tried to attend all of Michael's lacrosse games, will be missed back home. "It's hard to put into perspective the depth of this tragedy," he said. "The Jacobers were a pillar of the Providence, R.I., community."
Jeffrey Jacober was the owner of Ocean Group companies, which "has a family of consumer products in the area of health care," Bellini said.
Bellini described Jeffrey Jacober as a "smart, savvy and strategic" businessman and said both he and his wife showed "passion and interest" in the community. "They would do anything for anybody ... they were selfless. It wasn't a hit and miss basis, it was who they were," he said.
"Thousands and thousands of people are affected."
