A Pilatus PC-12/45 in Los Angeles, California. (AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images) STAGECOACH, Nev. (AP - A medical transport flight that crashed in a mountainous area in northern Nevada, killing five all five people aboard the plane including a patient, apparently broke apart before hitting the ground, authorities said Sunday.The National Transportation Safety Board has sent in a seven-member team of investigators to the site of Friday night’s crash near Stagecoach."How do we know if the airplane broke up in flight?
We found parts of the airplane one-half to three-quarters of a mile away" from the crash scene, NTSB Vice Chair Bruce Landsberg said at a news briefing in Carson City.Landsberg said in the afternoon briefing that a team spent all day looking for pieces of the downed plane.
He added investigators would likely be on site for several days before the wreckage of the single-engine Pilatus PC-12 is moved so investigators can try to determine a possible crash cause.
The plane was built in 2002.RELATED: See the items that TSA took away in one week at Newark-Liberty"Right now, we just don't know.