Two dentists among those killed in Montana plane crash

Butte, Mont.—A family vacation turned tragic for two dentists and their families when the small plane they were traveling in crashed Sunday afternoon just short of the Butte airport.

Drs. Brent Ching of Chico, Calif., and Michael Pullen of Galt, Calif., both general dentists, were confirmed among the 13 passengers and one pilot killed. There were no survivors and the National Transportation Safety Board is still determining the cause of the crash. The plane, a single-engine Pilatus PC-12, was not equipped with a data recorder for investigators to examine because, “like thousands of small airports, the Butte airport doesn’t have radar,” the Associated Press reported.

Both Drs. Ching and Pullen and their families were headed to the Yellowstone Club, an exclusive resort near Yellowstone National Park, where Dr. Ching was a member.

Dr. Ching’s wife and two young children also died in the crash along with Dr. Pullen’s wife, Vanessa, a pediatrician, and their two children. A third family, ophthalmologist Erin Jacobson, his wife, Amy, a dental hygienist, and their three children also perished.

An article in the March 24 Chicago Tribune reported that all of the plane’s adult passengers were graduates of Loma Linda University’s medical, dental or nursing programs, and that Dr. Vanessa Pullen and Amy Jacobson were daughters of ADA member Dr. Irving Feldkamp III, a Redlands, Calif., general dentist.

Dr. Feldkamp said he learned about the crash from his nephew, who called his uncle’s cell phone after seeing the news on CNN, the AP reported. “We knew it was our plane,” Dr. Feldkamp said.