BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) – Six Rhode Islanders were killed when a single-engine plane crashed Saturday, authorities said.

The turboprop plane went down around 2 p.m. in Benner Township, killing everyone aboard, officials said. The crash happened just outside Bellefonte, the Centre County seat, near the site of the future Centre County Correctional Facility.

Witnesses said the plane sputtered and hit the ground nose-first, said Tim Boyde, county director of administrative services, who was at the crash scene.

“There’s some reason to believe that icing may have been a contributing factor,” Boyde said. He said the weather was chilly and overcast when the plane went down within 25 yards of the new prison building, which was not damaged.

The plane was headed from Naples, Fla., to the airport in nearby State College, and the pilot was attempting an instrument landing approach, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Les Dorr said.

Attorney Carl Freedman said pilot Jeffrey Jacober, 51, of Providence, R.I., and Gregg Weingeroff, 49, were killed along with four family members. He said both men were his clients and his personal friends.

“These were leaders of the business community, the philanthropic community and the Jewish community in Rhode Island,” said Freedman. “This is a nightmare. The enormity of this is just too large to understand.”

Also killed were Jacober’s wife, Karen, 49, and their 15-year-old son, Eric, and Weingeroff’s wife, Dawn, and their 10-year-old son, Leland, Freedman said. Both boys attended The Wheeler School, a private school in Providence.

Freedman said Weingeroff ran Weingeroff Enterprises in Cranston, a 50-year-old jewelry, accessories and giftware company with 140 employees, according to a Dun & Bradstreet report.

Jacober was president of the Ocean Group Inc., a medical supply wholesaler, and operated Medport LLC, a manufacturer of health care products doing business as Vita Minder. Both of Jacober’s businesses were based in Providence; Ocean Group had 21 employees and Medport had 25, according to Dun & Bradstreet.

Freedman said the families attended Temple Beth El in Providence. He described Jacober as an accomplished and experienced pilot.

The families were on vacation in Florida and were en route to State College to watch Jacober’s 21-year-old son, Michael, play in a Penn State lacrosse game, Freedman said. Michael Jacober is the captain of the team, according to the Penn State sports Web site.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash.

The plane was manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. and registered to J2W Aviation LLC in Providence.

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On the Net:

Airport: http://www.statecollegeairport.org/

County prison: http://county.centreconnect.org/prison/

Ocean Group: http://www.oceangrp.com/

AP-ES-03-26-05 1939EST