Posted for Steve Reeves <sreeves@sc.rr.com>:

  Plane Carrying 4 Crashes, Burns at Portland International Airport; 1 Killed
 
 
 PORTLAND, Ore. ­  A small plane crashed and burned Saturday at Portland
International Airport, killing at least one person, the Federal Aviation
Administration said.
 
 An FAA spokesman, Mike Fergus, told The Associated Press that the plane, a
single-engine Lancaire, burned and scattered wreckage on the runway after
crashing just short of it while trying to land.
 
Fergus said he did not know how many people were on board.
 
 He said the plane was built in 2005 and certified as air-worthy.
 
 Port of Portland spokesman Steve Johnson said the crash closed the airport
for about 20 minutes until 9:30 a.m. He said three arrivals and five
departures were affected.
 
 Visibility at the airport at the time of the crash was a quarter-mile or
less, said Dan Keirns, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. It
was not immediately known if visibility was a factor.
 
 The crash was near the west end of the south runway