Pennsylvania Plane Crash Mystery

NTSB investigators are determined to learn why both engines of the Atlantic City charter failed at the same time, reports CBS News Correspondent Lou Miliano. The twin-engine turboprop Jetstream 31 crashed Sunday about 10 miles south of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton airport, killing all 19 aboard.

The agency's George Black says the focus is on the engines.

"I would describe them as being far damaged but not destroyed," he told reporters on the scene in Bear Creek, Pa. "They're intact."

Next, they'll pull what's left of the engines from the crash site for inspection.

Black concedes without a data recorder required, and the voice recorder not functioning, there will be no quick answers to what happened and why the Atlantic City charter lost two engines at the same time and crashed.

"There are no sounds from the cockpit on the tape," Black said. "This seriously hampers the investigation, let's face it."

He said the recorder may have been specially modified to operate on the plane's power source, a possibility that was still being checked.

Red Cross professionals are still onsite in Bear Creek, Pa., to assist the relatives of the victims of the crash, as well as the rescue workers who were first on the scene, like fireman Dominick Tortino.

"There's no training that they could give us that would make you prepared for what we saw, what was out there and what we had to do," he told CBS Radio News.

In fact, every local emergency services workers has been scheduled to meet with a mental health professional, to be sure he or she is all right.

Families of the 17 passengers peppered investigators with questions during a meeting with NTSB officials Monday evening. They were "somber and stunned" as officials indicated it would be some time before the cause of the crash was found, said Lackawanna County Commissioner Bob Cordaro.

"Now they understand that certain things will take days, not hours," said Cordaro.

Police escorted victims' families to the airport fire station and shielded them from journalists. The Luzerne County coroner's office refused to release the names of the victims Monday and authorities gave no indication of when the list would be released.

Meanwhile, nearby communities mourned.

Debra Maleski lost her mother, Nancy Maleski, 66, and sister Elaine Pilosi, 46, on the flight.

"They just went for an evening of fun and excitement; they played the slots," Maleski said. "They didn't like to fly, either one of them."

Residents in the tight-knit communities near Wilkes-Barre were awaiting the list of passengers.

"If you don't know somebody, you know someone who knows them," said Jerry Mancinelli of Dallas, Pa. "Everybody in the valley is going to be touched."

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