Minnesota ? The manager of a regional airport where eight people died in the crash of a business jet said Friday that the 5,500-foot runway is adequate, noting that similar aircraft land there routinely.

“It’s a good business line,” Dave Beaver said of the runway.

Beaver, manager of the Owatonna Degner Regional Airport, said severe weather in the area had calmed down by the time the Hawker jet crashed at about 9:45 a.m. He said he would let investigators decide whether the airport’s systems were working properly at the time of the crash.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators were surveying the wreckage and looking for clues Friday. Some investigators examined the runway, where witnesses said the plane landed and became airborne again before disappearing behind a row of trees about 500 feet from the runway’s edge.

The plane hit the ground in a cornfield and skidded for about 50 yards, then crossed a gravel road.