Recovery Of Last Plane-Crash Victim Delayed -- Family Members In Shock Over Tragedy At Pass

Darkness last night halted efforts to recover the last body from the wreckage of a small plane that crashed near Snoqualmie Pass Saturday, taking six lives, but search-and-rescue teams planned to return this morning to resume work.

Teams from Seattle and Tacoma Mountain Rescue and the King County Police Search and Rescue, using a helicopter, worked through the day to remove the bodies from the steep hillside where the twin-engine Beechcraft Duke plowed into the snow.

Killed were the plane's pilot, James Dale Huber, 48; his wife, Diana, 43; and their sons, Ryan, 15, and Jason, 13, of Kirkland. Also killed were Jerry Schei, 49, and his wife, Kristi, 46, of Bellevue.

For friends and relatives of the two families, recovery of the bodies is making real a tragedy that many say they can scarcely believe.

Still in shock, they say they are having a hard time accepting the deaths, partly because James Dale Huber, the pilot, was such an experienced flyer. Careful and conscientious, he often talked through "what-if" scenarios with friends as they flew through the mountains.

Navigating the same pass where he eventually died, Huber would point out possible places to land his plane and discuss what he would do in different emergencies.

"If I was in a plane that had trouble, I'd want him to be the pilot," said Jerry Aldrich, a friend and business partner who often flew with Huber.

Friends said both he and his wife were devoted to their children, who also died in the crash.

"He was so proud of his two boys and his family," said Jim Grabicki, who met Huber when Grabicki was tapped to be president of Summit Savings Bank, where Huber was chairman of the board. "He'd want to be remembered as a good solid family man."

The boys, who attended Bellevue Christian School, were good students who were active in school programs, including band and sports, school officials said.

The Hubers' close friends, Jerry and Kristi Schei, left behind two children, Kjell, 20, and Karri, 22, along with other relatives.

Owners of Western Yacht Sales, Jerry and Kristi Schei were both involved in the boat business - he in sales and she in interior design. Her company, Kristi Design, specialized in custom work.

Jerry Schei was "a tremendous friend," said Joe Pignataro, who had known him for nearly 23 years. "He was the kind of person I was able to get very close to."

Creative and organized when it came to business, Schei was instrumental in the evolution of the recreational boat industry in the Northwest, said Carl French, a broker at Western Yachts.

With Ed Monk, a well-known local yacht designer, Schei helped develop a line of boats called Ocean Alexander, built in Taiwan by Alexander Cheuh. "Jerry had the concept of what the boats would be, Ed Monk drew them and Alex built them," said French.

Both couples had deep ties to Washington State University in Pullman, where they had planned to attend the WSU-University of Washington football game when their plane crashed.

Cause of the crash is still under investigation, but authorities said Huber reported engine trouble.

If there was any way to have avoided the accident, friends say, Huber would have found it.

"Jim had been flying since he was 15 years old," said Grabicki, Huber's friend. "Flying was his passion."

More than 350 people, including Canadian volunteers, participated in the effort to find and remove the bodies, according to The Associated Press.

-- Times reporter Diedtra Henderson contributed to this story.