Witnesses who saw the airplane crash in Butte, Mont., that killed 16 people — including a St. Helena family — said the airplane went into a nosedive as it hit Holy Cross Cemetery Sunday afternoon.

Martha and Steve Guidoni, who were at a convenience store across Harrison Avenue from the cemetery, said the plane “just nose-dived into the ground.”

“My husband went over there to see if he could do anything,” Martha Guidoni said. However, the plane was engulfed in flames.

Harley Howard was driving south on Harrison Avenue when he saw the plane, also southbound and flying parallel to Harrison about 150 to 200 feet above the trees.

Howard said a plane coming in from that direction was “unusual” and it drew his attention.

Instantly, he said, “the back end of the plane flipped up” over the nose so that its roof was facing the ground. He said then it “just went into a nosedive and plowed right into the cemetery.”

As soon as the plane went down, Howard pulled into the cemetery and was one of the first to arrive at the crash site. Choking up, he described what he saw.

“I told my wife to stay in the car,” he said. “There were bodies on the ground and the plane was on fire. They were all babies,” he said.

He said he saw only one adult body. “The oldest (child) looked about 5 or 6,” he said. “I didn’t see any faces.”

He said ski equipment was scattered around the area, leading many to believe it was a chartered ski trip.

Here’s what other people reported:

• Gail Banks of Twin Bridges said she heard the plane fly low and loud over Twin Bridges, located about 45 miles southeast of Butte.  “A crazy noise was coming out of it,” she said.

Banks told her son, “Wow, this plane is going to crash in Twin Bridges.”

• Everett Bumgarner, a former police officer, was driving north on Harrison Avenue with his wife.  “It didn’t explode in the air,” he said. “All of the sudden we saw the plane make a dip and its wings were spread. It came straight down.”

He said it “didn’t look like it was in any trouble — it made a dip over and it dropped like a rock right into the ground.”

“I knew there was nothing I could do,” he said.

• Kenny Gulick, 14, said he saw the plane making a steep, angled turn before crashing. “All of a sudden the pilot lost control and went into a nosedive,” he said. “He couldn’t pull out in time and crashed into the trees of the cemetery.”

Gulick is a member of the Civil Air Patrol in Butte, a training program for pilots. “It looked like a stunt plane at first,” he said.

• Keith Garrett was working at the convenience store. He saw a plane go by and it looked like it was flying sideways, he said. “I looked away then I heard a boom and then a repercussion. You could feel it in your chest. Then I looked over there and there were flames everywhere.”

• Art Summers, who lives in a mobile home behind O’Brien’s Used Car and Truck Center, 4835 Harrison Ave., one block south and across Harrison from the impact site, said he felt the crash, too.

“It shook the trailer and I heard a big boom. I went out on the porch and saw black smoke. A few minutes later the flames were up higher than the trees. I knew it was jet fuel. You can tell by the smell,” he said.

Information compiled by staff of the Montana Standard of Butte, Mont., , a sister paper of the Napa Valley Register and St. Helena Star.