Plane crash kills Olympian, two teens

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Two Albuquerque Academy students may have been aboard a plane that crashed in Sedona, Arizona claiming the life of Olympian and New Mexico resident Pat Porter.

Arizona told KRQE News 13 that around 8 a.m. Thursday morning the plane, registered to Porter, clipped a fence and plunged hundreds of feet into a ravine near the runway of the Sedona airport before bursting into flames.

An employee at Double Eagle Airport in Albuquerque tells News 13 Porter left Sunday with this 15-year-old son Connor and his son’s friend, both boys were students at Albuquerque Academy. The three were due back Thursday.

Officials say the plane had just refueled in Sedona before it crashed.

"It reached elevation. It looks like the wheels or something on the plane contacted the fence and that's when it went down the mesa and crashed near the bottom" said Commander Ron Wheeler with the Sedona Police Department.

Porter was a two time Olympian, running the ten thousand meters at the 1984 and 1988 games. He was considered to be one of the greatest U.S. Distance runners of all time.

Porter leaves behind an 11-year-old daughter and his wife Trish, who was Olympic high jumper.

Members of the track and field community who are also friends of the couple say this is a devastating loss.

"Obviously I think of him as a runner, but I also think of him as a father, and as a husband and it hit me very hard," said fellow athlete and friend Chip Smith.

Officials in Arizona still have not released the identities of the three victims, but they do confirm that the remains are on adult and two children.

It could take months before investigators figure out what caused the crash.