A single mother lost her three young children and ex-husband in yesterday's fiery mountain plane crash at Arizona in the US.
PHOTOS: Pilot and family killed in plane crash
Karen Perry's children — an nine-year-old girl and two boys, aged eight and six — died after their pilot father Shawn Perry, 39, crashed the twin-engine plane into a cliff face in the Superstition Mountains.
Co-pilot Russell Hardy, 31, and mechanic Joseph Hardwick, 22, also died.
Friends of Ms Perry, a former pilot from Gold Canyon who now works as a flight attendant, described her as a selfless woman who doted on her young children.
Morgan battled epilepsy and needed brain surgery and Luke had autism.
"You have survived so much already," friend Susan Steele wrote on Ms Perry's Facebook page.
Ms Perry posted a photo of the plane only weeks before the deadly crash with the message: "Just loaded up my kids on this turbine commander, Dad at the controls headed for Safford, AZ."
The principal from the school the two boys attended said they were great kids and the school was shocked by the tragic news, ABC News reports.
"Logan and Morgan were just special kids that the teachers really bonded with," Mark Blomgren said.
Mr Perry, who owned a small aviation business in his hometown Safford, had picked up his children in Mesa and was flying them to his home to celebrate the Thanksgiving weekend.
Witnesses captured footage of the crash, which shows huge white fire-balls exploding near the mountain-top (Read more: Pilot and family killed in plane crash).
Sun Aug 12, 2012 5:17 am by 
Subject: Single mum loses three kids in plane crash