Jet crash on Otay Mountain killed 10 people in 1991

7 OF REBA MCENTIRE BAND AMONG DEAD ON MOUNTAIN

On this day in 1991, 10 people — including members of country music star Reba McEntire’s band and her tour manager — were killed when their plane crashed on Otay Mountain after taking off from Brown Field. Two pilots, employees of the company that leased the jet, also died.

OTAY JET CRASH KILLS 10

Ten people, including seven members of country-music star Reba McEntire’s band and her tour manager, were killed early today when their twin-engine jet crashed in a ball of fire just after taking off from Brown Field.

The plane, a Hawker Siddeley twin-engine business jet, was heading for Amarillo, Texas, when it crashed about 1:45 a.m. The overnight rainfall had ended by the time the plane took off, and officials had not determined the cause of the crash this morning.

A North Island Naval Air Station controller told officials that as the plane vanished from his radar screen, he looked up and saw a “ball of fire” in the southeast, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elly Brekke said.

It was the worst private plane crash in San Diego County since 1979, when 10 people were killed in a crash that also occurred in Otay Mesa.

McEntire, 35, the only four-time Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year, had performed in a private concert with her band at a meeting of 1,000 IBM officials at the Sheraton Harbor Island East Hotel. She was not aboard the plane, said McEntire’s spokeswoman, Jenny Bohler.

“She is devastated, of course,” Bohler said. “Many of them had been with her for several years. Many were like family. Some band members had been with her for two or three years.”

Bohler said McEntire and her band were scheduled to perform in Fort Wayne, Ind., tonight in a show that has since been canceled. But she said she didn’t know why the plane was flying to Amarillo. Two other band members were on a separate flight to Fort Wayne.

Hotel employees said that McEntire had checked out of the hotel this morning and Bohler said the singer was on her way back to Nashville to be with the relatives of those who were killed.

Brekke said the pilot had first called in a flight plan listing eight passengers. When the plane did not leave at its planned time, the pilot called back to file an amended flight plan.

“As the controller was entering the flight plan into the system, the aircraft was lost on radar. The controller tried to recontact the aircraft, but there was no response,” Brekke said.

A command center was set up early this morning at the Thousand Trails private campground just east of the Otay Reservoir and about 10 miles from the crash site. Law-enforcement officials used four-wheel-drive vehicles to reach the remote spot where the plane went down, at the 4,000foot level on the eastern side of Otay Mountain.

The crash and the resulting fire left a large blackened area in the brush on the hillside filled with scattered debris. A portion of tail section, the largest section of the plane found intact, was thrown about 100 yards beyond the spot of impact and was clearly visible from the air.