Date: 2/13/2009
By MICHAEL HILL
Associated Press Writer
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The commuter plane that crashed into a home near Buffalo, N.Y., was new and had a clean safety record, officials said Friday, leaving investigators few immediate clues about why it suddenly plunged just minutes before its planned landing, killing 50 people.
The twin turboprop aircraft — Continental Connection Flight 3407 from Newark, N.J. — was coming in for a landing when it crashed Thursday night about five miles short of the Buffalo Niagara International Airport.
The flight was operated by Colgan Air Inc., based in Manassas, Va. Colgan is owned by Pinnacle Airlines Corp.
The 74-seat Q400 Bombardier aircraft, registered last April, was delayed almost two hours before departing Newark, N.J.
But Philip H. Trenary, who heads Pinnacle Airlines Corp. and operator Colgan Air, said at a news conference Friday that he didn’t know why there was a delay.
Trenary said the plane was a “next-generation turbo prop, very modern.”
“It’s an aircraft that’s had flawless service,” he said. “So no, there have been no indications of problems with the aircraft.”
Bombardier spokesman Marc Duchesne said the plane was put into service very recently and is only a few months old.
Though skies were foggy and winds were 17 mph, there was no indication of anything out of the ordinary and no mayday call from the pilot, according to a recording of air traffic control radio messages captured by the Web site LiveATC.net.
William Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation, said the near vertical drop of the plane suggests a sudden loss of control. One witness said the plane “basically dove” onto house.
Voss said possible causes include icing or a mechanical failure, such as wing flaps deploying out of synch to different positions or the two engines putting out uneven thrust. Similarly, Don Maciejewski, a former military pilot and aviation attorney, said the sharp drop coupled with a witness who reported hearing a change in engine noise could indicate engine failure or ice buildup on the tail.
“There are a limited number of things that can cause an aircraft to lose control,” Voss said.
Wind gusts hit 65 mph on Thursday and the Federal Aviation Administration said flights were delayed by nearly four hours at Newark Liberty International Airport.
Trenary also would not speculate on if weather played a role in the crash, which killed all 49 people on board and one on the ground.
The Q400 is popular for intermediate flights, especially after recent spikes in aviation fuel prices.
The Q400 has not been involved in any fatal crashes in the United States, though it has had problems with its landing gear.
Scandinavian Airlines grounded its 27 Dash 8 Q400 aircraft in 2007 after problems with landing gear caused three crash landings in seven weeks in Europe. No one was seriously hurt in those accidents.
Voss said it’s “extremely unlikely” landing gear played a role in the crash five miles from the airport.
Bombardier said it has dispatched a product safety and technical team to the site to assist the National Transportation Safety Board with their investigation.
__
Associated Press Writer Ula Ilnytzky contributed to this report from New York City.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Sept. 11 widow killed in Buffalo plane crash
Date: 2/13/2009
By DEVLIN BARRETT
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — One of the victims of the Buffalo commuter plane crash, Beverly Eckert, was a Sept. 11 widow who put her never-ending grief to good use to make the country safer.
President Barack Obama, speaking in the White House’s East Room, said Eckert “was an inspiration to me and to so many others, and I pray that her family finds peace and comfort in the hard days ahead.”
A week before her death, Eckert met with Obama at the White House as part of a group of 9/11 families and relatives of those killed in the bombing of the USS Cole, discussing how the new administration would handle terror suspects.
Eckert was flying to Buffalo Thursday night to celebrate what would have been her husband Sean Rooney’s 58th birthday.
When he died in the World Trade Center, she became one of the most visible, tearful faces in the aftermath of the terror attacks.
Carol Ashley, whose daughter died at the World Trade Center, said the grim details of Eckert’s death are particularly painful to Eckert’s friends among 9/11 families.
“The fact that it was a plane crash, it was fire, it was reminiscent of 9/11 that way, that’s just very difficult,” said Ashley, a retired schoolteacher from Long Island.
She carried that grief to Congress as she tried to make the government do a better job protecting its citizens from terrorism.
Her husband worked at Aon Corp., a risk management firm, at the 98th floor of the south tower.
Eckert would cry when she told the story about how her husband — who was her high school sweetheart — called her on the morning of the attacks, and told her he loved her just before there was a loud explosion and nothing more.
She became part of a small group of Sept. 11 widows, mothers, and children who became amateur lobbyists, ultimately forcing lawmakers in 2004 to pass sweeping reforms of the U.S. intelligence apparatus.
They spent months walking the halls of Congress. All of the women were grieving, but Eckert seemed unable or uninterested in holding back her tears.
When it was over and they’d won passage of the intelligence reform law, Eckert vowed to quit her high-profile role “cold turkey.” All she wanted, she said, was to go home, buy groceries, and return to something like a regular life.
“I did all of this for Sean’s memory, I did it for him,” she said, crying again. “There is a euphoria in knowing that we reached the top of the hill. … I just wanted Sean to come home from work. Maybe now, someone else’s Sean will get to come home.”
Eckert was flying to her hometown Thursday night when the plane crashed on approach to the Buffalo airport.
After the 2001 attacks, she co-chaired the 9/11 Family Steering Committee, a group of activists devoted to exposing government failures that led up to the 2001 attacks, and fixing them.
She pushed for a 9/11 Commission. She pushed the Bush administration to provide more information to the commission. And when the commission’s work was over, she pushed Congress to adopt their recommendations.
For Eckert, the public role was not easy.
One night after a long day at Congress, she found herself in the New York City train station, without a connecting train to her home in Stamford, Connecticut.
“We slept in the train station. We had no place else to go. That’s when you look at yourself and say, ‘What am I doing? How can we possibly get this done?’.”
As Congress hemmed and hawed, Eckert vowed to sleep there, too, if it would get the law passed.
After the law passed, Eckert turned her energies to Habitat for Humanity, helping build homes for low-income families.
“I’m in shock, I just can’t believe it,” said Carie Lemack, whose mother died Sept. 11 on one of the hijacked planes. “Beverly had a can-do attitude about everything, and she never gave up.”
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
By DEVLIN BARRETT
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — One of the victims of the Buffalo commuter plane crash, Beverly Eckert, was a Sept. 11 widow who put her never-ending grief to good use to make the country safer.
President Barack Obama, speaking in the White House’s East Room, said Eckert “was an inspiration to me and to so many others, and I pray that her family finds peace and comfort in the hard days ahead.”
A week before her death, Eckert met with Obama at the White House as part of a group of 9/11 families and relatives of those killed in the bombing of the USS Cole, discussing how the new administration would handle terror suspects.
Eckert was flying to Buffalo Thursday night to celebrate what would have been her husband Sean Rooney’s 58th birthday.
When he died in the World Trade Center, she became one of the most visible, tearful faces in the aftermath of the terror attacks.
Carol Ashley, whose daughter died at the World Trade Center, said the grim details of Eckert’s death are particularly painful to Eckert’s friends among 9/11 families.
“The fact that it was a plane crash, it was fire, it was reminiscent of 9/11 that way, that’s just very difficult,” said Ashley, a retired schoolteacher from Long Island.
She carried that grief to Congress as she tried to make the government do a better job protecting its citizens from terrorism.
Her husband worked at Aon Corp., a risk management firm, at the 98th floor of the south tower.
Eckert would cry when she told the story about how her husband — who was her high school sweetheart — called her on the morning of the attacks, and told her he loved her just before there was a loud explosion and nothing more.
She became part of a small group of Sept. 11 widows, mothers, and children who became amateur lobbyists, ultimately forcing lawmakers in 2004 to pass sweeping reforms of the U.S. intelligence apparatus.
They spent months walking the halls of Congress. All of the women were grieving, but Eckert seemed unable or uninterested in holding back her tears.
When it was over and they’d won passage of the intelligence reform law, Eckert vowed to quit her high-profile role “cold turkey.” All she wanted, she said, was to go home, buy groceries, and return to something like a regular life.
“I did all of this for Sean’s memory, I did it for him,” she said, crying again. “There is a euphoria in knowing that we reached the top of the hill. … I just wanted Sean to come home from work. Maybe now, someone else’s Sean will get to come home.”
Eckert was flying to her hometown Thursday night when the plane crashed on approach to the Buffalo airport.
After the 2001 attacks, she co-chaired the 9/11 Family Steering Committee, a group of activists devoted to exposing government failures that led up to the 2001 attacks, and fixing them.
She pushed for a 9/11 Commission. She pushed the Bush administration to provide more information to the commission. And when the commission’s work was over, she pushed Congress to adopt their recommendations.
For Eckert, the public role was not easy.
One night after a long day at Congress, she found herself in the New York City train station, without a connecting train to her home in Stamford, Connecticut.
“We slept in the train station. We had no place else to go. That’s when you look at yourself and say, ‘What am I doing? How can we possibly get this done?’.”
As Congress hemmed and hawed, Eckert vowed to sleep there, too, if it would get the law passed.
After the law passed, Eckert turned her energies to Habitat for Humanity, helping build homes for low-income families.
“I’m in shock, I just can’t believe it,” said Carie Lemack, whose mother died Sept. 11 on one of the hijacked planes. “Beverly had a can-do attitude about everything, and she never gave up.”
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Fiery plane crash in upstate NY kills 50
Date: 2/13/2009
By JOHN WAWROW
Associated Press Writer
CLARENCE, N.Y. (AP) — A Continental commuter plane coming in for a landing nose-dived into a house in suburban Buffalo, sparking a fiery explosion that killed all 49 people aboard and a person in the home. It was the nation’s first fatal crash of a commercial airliner in 2½ years.
Witnesses heard the twin turboprop aircraft sputtering before it went down in light snow and fog around 10:20 p.m. Thursday about five miles from Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Continental Connection Flight 3407 from Newark, N.J., came in squarely through the roof of the house, its tail section visible through flames shooting at least 50 feet high.
“The whole sky was lit up orange,” said Bob Dworak, who lives less than a mile away. “All the sudden, there was a big bang, and the house shook.”
Two others in the house escaped with minor injuries. The plane was carrying a four-member crew and an off-duty pilot. Among the 44 passengers killed was a woman whose husband died in the World Trade Center attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
By morning, with the rubble still smoking, the task of retrieving remains had not yet begun.
Erie County Emergency Coordinator David Bissonette said it appeared the plane “dove directly on top of the house.”
“It was a direct hit,” Bissonette said. “It’s remarkable that it only took one house. As devastating as that is, it could have wiped out the entire neighborhood.”
President Barack Obama voiced condolences, saying “our hearts go out to the families and friends who lost loved ones.”
No mayday call came from the pilot before the crash, according to a recording of air traffic control’s radio messages captured by the Web site LiveATC.net. Neither the controller nor the pilot showed concern that anything was out of the ordinary as the airplane was asked to fly at 2,300 feet. Airport officials said the plane simply fell off the radar screen.
After the crash, at least two pilots were heard on air traffic control messages saying they had been picking up ice on their wings.
“We’ve been getting ice since 20 miles south of the airport,” one said.
The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team of investigators to Buffalo. The Department of Homeland Security said there was no indication of terrorism.
While residents of the neighborhood were used to planes rumbling overhead, witnesses said it sounded louder than usual, sputtered and made odd noises.
David Luce said he and his wife were working on their computers when they heard the plane come in low.
“It didn’t sound normal,” he said. “We heard it for a few seconds, then it stopped, then a couple of seconds later was this tremendous explosion.”
Dworak drove to the site, and “all we were seeing was 50 to 100 foot flames and a pile of rubble on the ground. It looked like the house just got destroyed the instant it got hit.”
One person in the home was killed, and two others inside, Karen Wielinski, 57, and her 22-year-old daughter, Jill, were able to escape with minor injuries. Twelve homes were evacuated.
The plane was carrying 5,000 pounds of fuel and apparently exploded on impact, Erie County Executive Chris Collins said.
Firefighters got as close to the plane as they could, he said. “They were shouting out to see if there were any survivors on the plane. Truly a very heroic effort, but there were no survivors.”
It was the first fatal crash of a commercial airliner in the United States since Aug. 27, 2006, when 49 people were killed after a Comair jetliner took off from a Lexington, Ky., runway that was too short.
The 74-seat Q400 Bombardier aircraft was operated by Manassas, Va.-based Colgan Air.
About 30 relatives and others who arrived at the airport in the overnight hours were escorted into a private area and then taken by bus to a senior citizens center in the neighboring town of Cheektowaga, where counselors and representatives from Continental waited to help.
“At this time, the full resources of Colgan Air’s accident response team are being mobilized and will be devoted to cooperating with all authorities responding to the accident and to contacting family members and providing assistance to them,” the statement said.
“Continental extends its deepest sympathy to the family members and loved ones of those involved in this accident,” Continental chairman and CEO Larry Kellner said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the family members and loved ones of those involved in the flight 3407 tragedy.”
Chris Kausner, believing his sister was on the plane, rushed to a hastily established command center after calling his vacationing mother in Florida to break the news.
“To tell you the truth, I heard my mother make a noise on the phone that I’ve never heard before. So not good, not good,” he told reporters.
The 9/11 widow on board was identified as Beverly Eckert. She was heading to Buffalo for a celebration of what would have been her husband’s 58th birthday, said Mary Fetchet, a 9/11 family activist.
Airline officials identified the crew as Capt. Marvin Renslow, pilot; first officer Rebecca Shaw and flight attendants Matilda Quintero and Donna Prisco. The off-duty crew member was Capt. Joseph Zuffoletto.
Clarence is a growing eastern suburb of Buffalo, largely residential but with rural stretches. The crash site is a street of closely spaced, older, single-family homes that back up to a wooded area.
The crash came less than a month after a US Airways pilot guided his crippled plane to a landing in the Hudson River off Manhattan, saving the lives of all 155 people aboard. Birds had apparently disabled both its engines.
On Dec. 20, a Continental Airlines plane veered off a runway and slid into a snowy field at the Denver airport, injuring 38 people.
Continental’s release said relatives and friends of those on Flight 3407 who wanted to give or receive information about those on board could telephone a special family assistance number, 1-800-621-3263.
___
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, Linda Franklin in Dallas, Daniel Yee in Atlanta, Ron Powers in Washington, and Cristian Salazar and Jennifer Peltz in New York.
___
On the Net:
Audio of air traffic control: http://sn.im/bt1z3
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
By JOHN WAWROW
Associated Press Writer
CLARENCE, N.Y. (AP) — A Continental commuter plane coming in for a landing nose-dived into a house in suburban Buffalo, sparking a fiery explosion that killed all 49 people aboard and a person in the home. It was the nation’s first fatal crash of a commercial airliner in 2½ years.
Witnesses heard the twin turboprop aircraft sputtering before it went down in light snow and fog around 10:20 p.m. Thursday about five miles from Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Continental Connection Flight 3407 from Newark, N.J., came in squarely through the roof of the house, its tail section visible through flames shooting at least 50 feet high.
“The whole sky was lit up orange,” said Bob Dworak, who lives less than a mile away. “All the sudden, there was a big bang, and the house shook.”
Two others in the house escaped with minor injuries. The plane was carrying a four-member crew and an off-duty pilot. Among the 44 passengers killed was a woman whose husband died in the World Trade Center attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
By morning, with the rubble still smoking, the task of retrieving remains had not yet begun.
Erie County Emergency Coordinator David Bissonette said it appeared the plane “dove directly on top of the house.”
“It was a direct hit,” Bissonette said. “It’s remarkable that it only took one house. As devastating as that is, it could have wiped out the entire neighborhood.”
President Barack Obama voiced condolences, saying “our hearts go out to the families and friends who lost loved ones.”
No mayday call came from the pilot before the crash, according to a recording of air traffic control’s radio messages captured by the Web site LiveATC.net. Neither the controller nor the pilot showed concern that anything was out of the ordinary as the airplane was asked to fly at 2,300 feet. Airport officials said the plane simply fell off the radar screen.
After the crash, at least two pilots were heard on air traffic control messages saying they had been picking up ice on their wings.
“We’ve been getting ice since 20 miles south of the airport,” one said.
The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team of investigators to Buffalo. The Department of Homeland Security said there was no indication of terrorism.
While residents of the neighborhood were used to planes rumbling overhead, witnesses said it sounded louder than usual, sputtered and made odd noises.
David Luce said he and his wife were working on their computers when they heard the plane come in low.
“It didn’t sound normal,” he said. “We heard it for a few seconds, then it stopped, then a couple of seconds later was this tremendous explosion.”
Dworak drove to the site, and “all we were seeing was 50 to 100 foot flames and a pile of rubble on the ground. It looked like the house just got destroyed the instant it got hit.”
One person in the home was killed, and two others inside, Karen Wielinski, 57, and her 22-year-old daughter, Jill, were able to escape with minor injuries. Twelve homes were evacuated.
The plane was carrying 5,000 pounds of fuel and apparently exploded on impact, Erie County Executive Chris Collins said.
Firefighters got as close to the plane as they could, he said. “They were shouting out to see if there were any survivors on the plane. Truly a very heroic effort, but there were no survivors.”
It was the first fatal crash of a commercial airliner in the United States since Aug. 27, 2006, when 49 people were killed after a Comair jetliner took off from a Lexington, Ky., runway that was too short.
The 74-seat Q400 Bombardier aircraft was operated by Manassas, Va.-based Colgan Air.
About 30 relatives and others who arrived at the airport in the overnight hours were escorted into a private area and then taken by bus to a senior citizens center in the neighboring town of Cheektowaga, where counselors and representatives from Continental waited to help.
“At this time, the full resources of Colgan Air’s accident response team are being mobilized and will be devoted to cooperating with all authorities responding to the accident and to contacting family members and providing assistance to them,” the statement said.
“Continental extends its deepest sympathy to the family members and loved ones of those involved in this accident,” Continental chairman and CEO Larry Kellner said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with all of the family members and loved ones of those involved in the flight 3407 tragedy.”
Chris Kausner, believing his sister was on the plane, rushed to a hastily established command center after calling his vacationing mother in Florida to break the news.
“To tell you the truth, I heard my mother make a noise on the phone that I’ve never heard before. So not good, not good,” he told reporters.
The 9/11 widow on board was identified as Beverly Eckert. She was heading to Buffalo for a celebration of what would have been her husband’s 58th birthday, said Mary Fetchet, a 9/11 family activist.
Airline officials identified the crew as Capt. Marvin Renslow, pilot; first officer Rebecca Shaw and flight attendants Matilda Quintero and Donna Prisco. The off-duty crew member was Capt. Joseph Zuffoletto.
Clarence is a growing eastern suburb of Buffalo, largely residential but with rural stretches. The crash site is a street of closely spaced, older, single-family homes that back up to a wooded area.
The crash came less than a month after a US Airways pilot guided his crippled plane to a landing in the Hudson River off Manhattan, saving the lives of all 155 people aboard. Birds had apparently disabled both its engines.
On Dec. 20, a Continental Airlines plane veered off a runway and slid into a snowy field at the Denver airport, injuring 38 people.
Continental’s release said relatives and friends of those on Flight 3407 who wanted to give or receive information about those on board could telephone a special family assistance number, 1-800-621-3263.
___
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, Linda Franklin in Dallas, Daniel Yee in Atlanta, Ron Powers in Washington, and Cristian Salazar and Jennifer Peltz in New York.
___
On the Net:
Audio of air traffic control: http://sn.im/bt1z3
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Brazil police: 10 at fault for air crash
Date: 11/20/2008
By BRADLEY BROOKS
Associated Press Writer
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) _ A police investigation found that 10 government and airline officials were to blame for Brazil’s worst air disaster, saying they failed to properly train pilots, implement rainy day procedures or fully repair the airport’s drainage system, authorities said Wednesday.
It will be up to Brazilian prosecutors, however, to file formal charges — which could result in up to six years of prison.
An investigation by Sao Paulo state civil police blamed officials from Brazilian regulators and TAM airlines for the crash, a police investigator on the case said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to discuss the matter.
TAM Flight 3054, an Airbus A320, landed in driving rain at Sao Paulo’s Congonhas airport in July 2007, speeding down the runway and crashing into a gas station and air cargo building at 109 mph (175 kph).
All 187 people aboard and 12 people on the ground died.
The police report blames government officials for the failure to set stricter rainy-day landing rules for the short runway or to fully repair its drainage system. Airline officials were blamed for poor pilot training.
Among those named in the report are: Denise Abreu, former director of Brazil’s National Civil Aviation Agency — known as ANAC; Jose Carlos Pereira, former president of Infraero, which oversees airport infrastructure; and Marco Santos, TAM’s safety director, among others.
The police official also said the report confirmed that one of the thrust reversers on the plane — which help to slow aircraft upon landing — was not functional.
TAM has said it had allowed planes to fly without a thrust reverser based on government-approved safety measures. It also said it followed Airbus maintenance rules that said the plane was safe to fly.
ANAC, Infraero and TAM Linhas Aereas SA declined comment, saying they had not yet received a copy of the investigative report.
A separate investigation into the crash is being conducted by Brazil’s Air Force.
___
Associated Press writer Marco Sibaja contributed to this report from Brasilia.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By BRADLEY BROOKS
Associated Press Writer
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) _ A police investigation found that 10 government and airline officials were to blame for Brazil’s worst air disaster, saying they failed to properly train pilots, implement rainy day procedures or fully repair the airport’s drainage system, authorities said Wednesday.
It will be up to Brazilian prosecutors, however, to file formal charges — which could result in up to six years of prison.
An investigation by Sao Paulo state civil police blamed officials from Brazilian regulators and TAM airlines for the crash, a police investigator on the case said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to discuss the matter.
TAM Flight 3054, an Airbus A320, landed in driving rain at Sao Paulo’s Congonhas airport in July 2007, speeding down the runway and crashing into a gas station and air cargo building at 109 mph (175 kph).
All 187 people aboard and 12 people on the ground died.
The police report blames government officials for the failure to set stricter rainy-day landing rules for the short runway or to fully repair its drainage system. Airline officials were blamed for poor pilot training.
Among those named in the report are: Denise Abreu, former director of Brazil’s National Civil Aviation Agency — known as ANAC; Jose Carlos Pereira, former president of Infraero, which oversees airport infrastructure; and Marco Santos, TAM’s safety director, among others.
The police official also said the report confirmed that one of the thrust reversers on the plane — which help to slow aircraft upon landing — was not functional.
TAM has said it had allowed planes to fly without a thrust reverser based on government-approved safety measures. It also said it followed Airbus maintenance rules that said the plane was safe to fly.
ANAC, Infraero and TAM Linhas Aereas SA declined comment, saying they had not yet received a copy of the investigative report.
A separate investigation into the crash is being conducted by Brazil’s Air Force.
___
Associated Press writer Marco Sibaja contributed to this report from Brasilia.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
US experts believe Mexico plane crash was accident
Date: 11/13/2008
By ALEXANDRA OLSON
Associated Press Writer
MEXICO CITY (AP) _ U.S. investigators have found no evidence of foul play in a mysterious plane crash that killed Mexico’s second-most powerful official, the American ambassador said Wednesday.
U.S. National Transportation and Safety Board experts say that, so far, nothing in the flight data recorder, cockpit recorder or other evidence indicates that “sabotage or criminal activity caused the crash,” Tony Garza said in a statement.
“The preliminary evidence indicates the crash was a tragic accident,” he added.
The NTSB team has been in Mexico for a week to help investigate the Nov. 4 crash that killed Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino, who was the equivalent of Mexico’s vice president and the closest confidant of President Felipe Calderon.
Five people on the ground and nine people on the plane were killed when the Learjet 45 suddenly plunged into an upscale Mexico City neighborhood. Also among those on board was former anti-drug prosecutor Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos.
From the start, Mexican investigators have said the crash appeared to be an accident. They ruled out a bomb last week, saying no trace of explosives was found at the crash scene.
Despite the lack of evidence, many Mexicans immediately suspected the crash was another attack by drug cartels, which have increasingly targeted security officials. Vasconcelos had been the target of at least one previous assassination plot.
Garza said the NTSB investigators would leave Mexico on Thursday but the agency would continue to help examine evidence and run simulations to determine what happened.
He gave no indication of whether investigators were close to determining the cause, saying only that “we must now all await the final conclusions” of Mexican aviation officials.
Mexican officials have offered a wide range of possibilities, from human error to turbulence from another plane. They ruled out engine failure last week.
The crash occurred in clear weather, and in their last recorded radio conversation, the plane’s flight crew calmly discussed radio frequencies and speed with controllers. The tape went silent just as radar lost the plane’s altitude reading.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By ALEXANDRA OLSON
Associated Press Writer
MEXICO CITY (AP) _ U.S. investigators have found no evidence of foul play in a mysterious plane crash that killed Mexico’s second-most powerful official, the American ambassador said Wednesday.
U.S. National Transportation and Safety Board experts say that, so far, nothing in the flight data recorder, cockpit recorder or other evidence indicates that “sabotage or criminal activity caused the crash,” Tony Garza said in a statement.
“The preliminary evidence indicates the crash was a tragic accident,” he added.
The NTSB team has been in Mexico for a week to help investigate the Nov. 4 crash that killed Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino, who was the equivalent of Mexico’s vice president and the closest confidant of President Felipe Calderon.
Five people on the ground and nine people on the plane were killed when the Learjet 45 suddenly plunged into an upscale Mexico City neighborhood. Also among those on board was former anti-drug prosecutor Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos.
From the start, Mexican investigators have said the crash appeared to be an accident. They ruled out a bomb last week, saying no trace of explosives was found at the crash scene.
Despite the lack of evidence, many Mexicans immediately suspected the crash was another attack by drug cartels, which have increasingly targeted security officials. Vasconcelos had been the target of at least one previous assassination plot.
Garza said the NTSB investigators would leave Mexico on Thursday but the agency would continue to help examine evidence and run simulations to determine what happened.
He gave no indication of whether investigators were close to determining the cause, saying only that “we must now all await the final conclusions” of Mexican aviation officials.
Mexican officials have offered a wide range of possibilities, from human error to turbulence from another plane. They ruled out engine failure last week.
The crash occurred in clear weather, and in their last recorded radio conversation, the plane’s flight crew calmly discussed radio frequencies and speed with controllers. The tape went silent just as radar lost the plane’s altitude reading.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Mexico rules out bomb, failed engine in jet crash
Date: 11/7/2008
By E. EDUARDO CASTILLO
Associated Press Writer
MEXICO CITY (AP) _ Mexican experts say they have ruled out a bomb or engine failure as the cause of a plane crash that killed Mexico’s interior secretary.
The probe into the cause of Tuesday’s crash continues, but officials of Mexico’s Transportation Department said the findings reinforced their initial opinion that no foul play was involved.
“This reinforced the hypothesis that the crash was an accident,” said Transportation Secretary Luis Tellez.
Tellez told a news conference on Friday that all parts of the plane necessary for flight had been found at the crash scene, proving that none had been lost in flight.
Investigators from the federal Attorney General’s Office also said chemical tests revealed no trace of explosives.
From the start, authorities said it appeared to be an accident, but recent attacks on police officials by Mexico’s increasingly violent drug cartels led many here to speculate the crash had been an attack.
The violence has surged during a 2-year-old army and police offensive to wrest control from drug cartels.
Five people on the ground and nine people on the plane were killed in Tuesday’s crash, including Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino and former anti-drug prosecutor Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos.
The 37-year-old Mourino, one of President Felipe Calderon’s closest confidants, was Mexico’s equivalent of vice president and domestic security chief. Santiago Vasconcelos had been the target of at least one previous assassination plot.
The crash occurred in clear weather, and in their last recorded radio conversation, the plane’s flight crew calmly discussed radio frequencies and speed with controllers. The tape went silent just as radar lost the plane’s altitude reading.
Two flight recorders from the Learjet 45 have been sent to the U.S. for examination. Tellez has said experts would need at least a week to analyze the plane’s voice and data recorders for clues to what went wrong.
Experts from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority are in Mexico helping with the investigation.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By E. EDUARDO CASTILLO
Associated Press Writer
MEXICO CITY (AP) _ Mexican experts say they have ruled out a bomb or engine failure as the cause of a plane crash that killed Mexico’s interior secretary.
The probe into the cause of Tuesday’s crash continues, but officials of Mexico’s Transportation Department said the findings reinforced their initial opinion that no foul play was involved.
“This reinforced the hypothesis that the crash was an accident,” said Transportation Secretary Luis Tellez.
Tellez told a news conference on Friday that all parts of the plane necessary for flight had been found at the crash scene, proving that none had been lost in flight.
Investigators from the federal Attorney General’s Office also said chemical tests revealed no trace of explosives.
From the start, authorities said it appeared to be an accident, but recent attacks on police officials by Mexico’s increasingly violent drug cartels led many here to speculate the crash had been an attack.
The violence has surged during a 2-year-old army and police offensive to wrest control from drug cartels.
Five people on the ground and nine people on the plane were killed in Tuesday’s crash, including Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino and former anti-drug prosecutor Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos.
The 37-year-old Mourino, one of President Felipe Calderon’s closest confidants, was Mexico’s equivalent of vice president and domestic security chief. Santiago Vasconcelos had been the target of at least one previous assassination plot.
The crash occurred in clear weather, and in their last recorded radio conversation, the plane’s flight crew calmly discussed radio frequencies and speed with controllers. The tape went silent just as radar lost the plane’s altitude reading.
Two flight recorders from the Learjet 45 have been sent to the U.S. for examination. Tellez has said experts would need at least a week to analyze the plane’s voice and data recorders for clues to what went wrong.
Experts from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority are in Mexico helping with the investigation.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Mexico says jet crash likely accident
Date: 11/5/2008
By JULIE WATSON
Associated Press Writer
MEXICO CITY (AP) _ A fiery plane crash into rush-hour traffic claimed the life of the Mexico’s most powerful official after the president, a heavy blow to the government’s escalating battle against drug cartels.
Officials say all indications are that the crash was an accident, but they vowed to investigate thoroughly to rule out the possibility of an attack and brought in U.S. and British investigators to help.
The plane carried Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino, the equivalent of Mexico’s vice president and head of domestic security, as well as former anti-drug prosecutor Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos.
The government Learjet 45 was approaching the Mexico City airport when it suddenly slammed into rush-hour traffic in the posh Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood, igniting a fireball that lit up the evening sky and killed at least 13 people.
“There was an explosion and we started to run. That was when we saw everything on fire behind us,” said Guadalupe Sanabria, who was selling hot dogs from a street stand 20 yards (meters) from where the jet crashed.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff called Mourino “a courageous and strong partner in the fight against dangerous criminal groups.”
“He believed in the rule of law and worked very hard to increase coordination among security officials and law enforcement on both sides of the border,” Chertoff said in a statement Wednesday.
Many Mexicans immediately speculated that the crash was another hit by drug cartels that have killed several top officials in recent months.
Mourino, Vasconcelos and a group of advisers were flying back to Mexico City from the city of San Luis Potosi after attending the inauguration of a program to welcome migrants returning from the U.S.
Mexico City prosecutor Miguel Angel Mancera told the Televisa network that nine of the victims were on the plane and four were on the ground. He said officials were searching for more possible remains.
Dozens of cars caught fire and at least 40 people were injured, while officials evacuated about 1,200 people from the scene near the busy Reforma Avenue.
Hundreds of police, firefighters and soldiers searched charred hulks of vehicles for the remains of bodies, many of which were burned beyond recognition.
Mourino, 37, was Calderon’s closest aide, while Vasconcelos was previously in charge of prosecuting and extraditing drug traffickers and had been the target of at least one planned assassination attempt in the past.
The Sinaloa cartel is suspected of having killed acting Mexican federal police chief Edgar Millan in May, likely for his crackdown on trafficking at the airport. Just months after taking office nearly two years ago, Calderon acknowledged receiving threats.
“It makes you suspicious, the way things are going with drug trafficking in this country,” said Arturo Hernandez, a 39-year-old bank employee sitting at a cafe in Mexico City. “It seems like an attack.”
Transportation Secretary Luis Tellez, however, told a news conference that “there are no indications that would support any hypothesis other than that this was an accident, but we will investigate until all possibilities have been exhausted.”
Tellez said authorities have not found any indication that the 10-year-old craft exploded or caught fire while in flight. He said a mechanical failure may have caused the crash.
U.S. experts from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, or NTSB, arrived Wednesday, and three experts from Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority will also help investigate, Tellez said.
Keith Holloway, the spokesman for the NTSB, also said there was no indication that foul play was involved.
“If it was known as this point that there was some criminal activity, then the NTSB would not be assisting,” he said.
The death prompted Mexico’s Congress to postpone debate on a new budget until next week, the government news agency Notimex reported.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By JULIE WATSON
Associated Press Writer
MEXICO CITY (AP) _ A fiery plane crash into rush-hour traffic claimed the life of the Mexico’s most powerful official after the president, a heavy blow to the government’s escalating battle against drug cartels.
Officials say all indications are that the crash was an accident, but they vowed to investigate thoroughly to rule out the possibility of an attack and brought in U.S. and British investigators to help.
The plane carried Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino, the equivalent of Mexico’s vice president and head of domestic security, as well as former anti-drug prosecutor Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos.
The government Learjet 45 was approaching the Mexico City airport when it suddenly slammed into rush-hour traffic in the posh Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood, igniting a fireball that lit up the evening sky and killed at least 13 people.
“There was an explosion and we started to run. That was when we saw everything on fire behind us,” said Guadalupe Sanabria, who was selling hot dogs from a street stand 20 yards (meters) from where the jet crashed.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff called Mourino “a courageous and strong partner in the fight against dangerous criminal groups.”
“He believed in the rule of law and worked very hard to increase coordination among security officials and law enforcement on both sides of the border,” Chertoff said in a statement Wednesday.
Many Mexicans immediately speculated that the crash was another hit by drug cartels that have killed several top officials in recent months.
Mourino, Vasconcelos and a group of advisers were flying back to Mexico City from the city of San Luis Potosi after attending the inauguration of a program to welcome migrants returning from the U.S.
Mexico City prosecutor Miguel Angel Mancera told the Televisa network that nine of the victims were on the plane and four were on the ground. He said officials were searching for more possible remains.
Dozens of cars caught fire and at least 40 people were injured, while officials evacuated about 1,200 people from the scene near the busy Reforma Avenue.
Hundreds of police, firefighters and soldiers searched charred hulks of vehicles for the remains of bodies, many of which were burned beyond recognition.
Mourino, 37, was Calderon’s closest aide, while Vasconcelos was previously in charge of prosecuting and extraditing drug traffickers and had been the target of at least one planned assassination attempt in the past.
The Sinaloa cartel is suspected of having killed acting Mexican federal police chief Edgar Millan in May, likely for his crackdown on trafficking at the airport. Just months after taking office nearly two years ago, Calderon acknowledged receiving threats.
“It makes you suspicious, the way things are going with drug trafficking in this country,” said Arturo Hernandez, a 39-year-old bank employee sitting at a cafe in Mexico City. “It seems like an attack.”
Transportation Secretary Luis Tellez, however, told a news conference that “there are no indications that would support any hypothesis other than that this was an accident, but we will investigate until all possibilities have been exhausted.”
Tellez said authorities have not found any indication that the 10-year-old craft exploded or caught fire while in flight. He said a mechanical failure may have caused the crash.
U.S. experts from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, or NTSB, arrived Wednesday, and three experts from Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority will also help investigate, Tellez said.
Keith Holloway, the spokesman for the NTSB, also said there was no indication that foul play was involved.
“If it was known as this point that there was some criminal activity, then the NTSB would not be assisting,” he said.
The death prompted Mexico’s Congress to postpone debate on a new budget until next week, the government news agency Notimex reported.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Plane crash leaves Mexico interior secretary dead
Date: 11/5/2008
By MARK STEVENSON
Associated Press Writer
MEXICO CITY (AP) _ One of Mexico’s top pointmen in the war against drug trafficking died when a government jet crashed into a Mexico City street, setting fire to dozens of vehicles and dealing crusading President Felipe Calderon a serious blow.
Officials said the Tuesday crash appeared to be an accident but the loss of Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino, former anti-drug prosecutor Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos and six others thinned the ranks of Mexico’s already embattled leadership.
U.S. Ambassador Antonio Garza praised the two officials and suggested them as models for the fight against organized crime.
“Their dedication and commitment to accomplishing their work, especially that which strengthened our bilateral fight against those who attack the security of our two countries, certainly will be a model for all of us in a common effort that will continue to strengthen,” Garza said in a statement.
Mourino, 37, was one of President Felipe Calderon’s closest advisers but has been embroiled in scandal since taking office in the midst of Mexico’s violent fight against drug cartels. He was in charge of the country’s security.
“With his death, Mexico has lost a great Mexican, intelligent, loyal and committed to his ideals and his country,” Calderon told a news conference. “I ask all Mexicans that they don’t allow any event, no matter how difficult or painful, to weaken them in the pursuit of a better Mexico.”
Calderon has sent tens of thousands of federal police and army troops throughout Mexico to fight drug cartels that are fighting increasingly bloody turf battles and killing police officials.
Presidential spokesman Max Cortazar said Mourino and a group of advisers had attended the launching of a program to welcome returning migrants in the city of San Luis Potosi on Tuesday, and were headed back to Mexico City’s international airport when the plane went down.
Officials said no distress call had been received and the crash appeared to be an accident, but Calderon said his administration “will carry out all the necessary investigations to find out the causes of this tragedy.”
U.S. experts from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will arrive on Wednesday to assist in the investigation, officials said.
Mexico’s fleet of government aircraft have suffered accidents in the past and the country has long said it needs new helicopters and planes to fight drug cartels. Mexico is slated to receive more helicopters and planes as part of a $400 million U.S. aid package known as the Merida Initiative approved in June, but which has not been yet released.
In 2005, a helicopter crash blamed on poor weather conditions killed Mexico’s top police official, public safety secretary Ramon Martin Huerta, the head of federal police and seven other people.
The Learjet carrying Mourino crashed on a street in the posh Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood, an area filled with tall office buildings. Officials evacuated about 1,800 people from area offices.
Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said all those aboard the plane were killed and that more people may have died on the ground. “It’s likely that we will find other bodies in the vehicles,” Ebrard told the Televisa news network.
Hundreds of police, firefighters and soldiers swarmed the scene, which was littered with the burned-out hulks of vehicles and pieces of what appeared to be bodies.
Eight bodies were recovered and at least 40 people were injured, seven of them seriously. The jet seats eight and Calderon listed eight people — including assistants and spokespeople for Mourino — but it was unclear whether all the bodies recovered were from the plane. The bodies were too badly burned to be immediately identified.
Santiago Vasconcelos, who was previously in charge of pursuing extraditions against drug traffickers, had been the target of at least one planned assassination attempt in the past.
The plane’s wreckage came to rest just yards from tall office buildings and Ebrard said many more people would almost certainly have died had the plane hit one of the towers.
Civil aviation officials were investigating the cause of the crash.
Mourino was one of the most controversial officials when he joined Calderon’s Cabinet in January because of his family’s involvement with private contracts to Mexico’s state-owned oil company, precisely at a time when Calderon sought to open up the legal framework for more such contracts.
The Mourino family’s dealing in contracts for the transport of fuel angered many here, who view the state oil company as a point of national pride and oppose any openings to private involvement in the industry.
Born in Spain and educated at the University of Tampa in Florida, some also criticized the fact that he was foreign-born, arguing he shouldn’t be able to hold one of the top Cabinet security posts.
He became a Mexican citizen about two decades ago, served as a federal legislator and went on to become Calderon’s closest adviser as head of the Office of the Presidency. He was one of the youngest men to have held the politically sensitive post of interior secretary.
Spanish firms have recently made major inroads in Mexico’s telecommunications and banking sector, drawing criticism from some Mexicans who resent the influence of the country’s former colonial master.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By MARK STEVENSON
Associated Press Writer
MEXICO CITY (AP) _ One of Mexico’s top pointmen in the war against drug trafficking died when a government jet crashed into a Mexico City street, setting fire to dozens of vehicles and dealing crusading President Felipe Calderon a serious blow.
Officials said the Tuesday crash appeared to be an accident but the loss of Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino, former anti-drug prosecutor Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos and six others thinned the ranks of Mexico’s already embattled leadership.
U.S. Ambassador Antonio Garza praised the two officials and suggested them as models for the fight against organized crime.
“Their dedication and commitment to accomplishing their work, especially that which strengthened our bilateral fight against those who attack the security of our two countries, certainly will be a model for all of us in a common effort that will continue to strengthen,” Garza said in a statement.
Mourino, 37, was one of President Felipe Calderon’s closest advisers but has been embroiled in scandal since taking office in the midst of Mexico’s violent fight against drug cartels. He was in charge of the country’s security.
“With his death, Mexico has lost a great Mexican, intelligent, loyal and committed to his ideals and his country,” Calderon told a news conference. “I ask all Mexicans that they don’t allow any event, no matter how difficult or painful, to weaken them in the pursuit of a better Mexico.”
Calderon has sent tens of thousands of federal police and army troops throughout Mexico to fight drug cartels that are fighting increasingly bloody turf battles and killing police officials.
Presidential spokesman Max Cortazar said Mourino and a group of advisers had attended the launching of a program to welcome returning migrants in the city of San Luis Potosi on Tuesday, and were headed back to Mexico City’s international airport when the plane went down.
Officials said no distress call had been received and the crash appeared to be an accident, but Calderon said his administration “will carry out all the necessary investigations to find out the causes of this tragedy.”
U.S. experts from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will arrive on Wednesday to assist in the investigation, officials said.
Mexico’s fleet of government aircraft have suffered accidents in the past and the country has long said it needs new helicopters and planes to fight drug cartels. Mexico is slated to receive more helicopters and planes as part of a $400 million U.S. aid package known as the Merida Initiative approved in June, but which has not been yet released.
In 2005, a helicopter crash blamed on poor weather conditions killed Mexico’s top police official, public safety secretary Ramon Martin Huerta, the head of federal police and seven other people.
The Learjet carrying Mourino crashed on a street in the posh Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood, an area filled with tall office buildings. Officials evacuated about 1,800 people from area offices.
Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said all those aboard the plane were killed and that more people may have died on the ground. “It’s likely that we will find other bodies in the vehicles,” Ebrard told the Televisa news network.
Hundreds of police, firefighters and soldiers swarmed the scene, which was littered with the burned-out hulks of vehicles and pieces of what appeared to be bodies.
Eight bodies were recovered and at least 40 people were injured, seven of them seriously. The jet seats eight and Calderon listed eight people — including assistants and spokespeople for Mourino — but it was unclear whether all the bodies recovered were from the plane. The bodies were too badly burned to be immediately identified.
Santiago Vasconcelos, who was previously in charge of pursuing extraditions against drug traffickers, had been the target of at least one planned assassination attempt in the past.
The plane’s wreckage came to rest just yards from tall office buildings and Ebrard said many more people would almost certainly have died had the plane hit one of the towers.
Civil aviation officials were investigating the cause of the crash.
Mourino was one of the most controversial officials when he joined Calderon’s Cabinet in January because of his family’s involvement with private contracts to Mexico’s state-owned oil company, precisely at a time when Calderon sought to open up the legal framework for more such contracts.
The Mourino family’s dealing in contracts for the transport of fuel angered many here, who view the state oil company as a point of national pride and oppose any openings to private involvement in the industry.
Born in Spain and educated at the University of Tampa in Florida, some also criticized the fact that he was foreign-born, arguing he shouldn’t be able to hold one of the top Cabinet security posts.
He became a Mexican citizen about two decades ago, served as a federal legislator and went on to become Calderon’s closest adviser as head of the Office of the Presidency. He was one of the youngest men to have held the politically sensitive post of interior secretary.
Spanish firms have recently made major inroads in Mexico’s telecommunications and banking sector, drawing criticism from some Mexicans who resent the influence of the country’s former colonial master.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Martinique: Human error likely in ’05 plane crash
Date: 10/9/2008 9:35 PM
By RODOLPHE LAMY
Associated Press Writer
FORT-DE-FRANCE, Martinique (AP) _ An ongoing investigation into a 2005 plane crash that killed 152 people from Martinique suggests that human error and not faulty maintenance was to blame, the island’s prosecutor told the victims’ relatives on Thursday.
One expert found that West Caribbean Airways — despite financial problems — provided regular maintenance to the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 plane that crashed three years ago, Claude Bellanger said during a meeting to update relatives on the investigation.
He said investigators believe the pilots lost speed when they tried to quickly ascend to avoid a cluster of storm clouds.
“They were in a zone … that they never should have entered,” Bellanger said.
An initial analysis of the plane’s black box recorders suggests the pilots did not react appropriately when they tried to stabilize the plane as it went into a three-minute free fall, he said.
Another expert is still analyzing whether human error played a part, Bellanger said.
Authorities have previously said the jet’s engines were running when it crashed and that the pilots had talked about weather conditions and possibly turning on the deicers.
Olivier Berisson, president of the Association of Victim’s Families, rejected Bellanger’s explanations.
“It is nonetheless surprising that there were no maintenance problems with a company that had two crashes in the same year,” he said.
A West Caribbean Airways plane crashed in March 2005 after taking off from Colombia’s Providencia Island, killing eight people. Five months later, on Aug. 16, one of its charter jets en route from Panama crashed in Venezuela, killing 160 people, the majority of whom were tourists from Martinique.
A Fort-de-France court recently ordered the airline to pay US$3.7 million to the families of 28 victims. Compensations would vary: A victim’s nephew could receive US$8,000 while a parent or child could get US$54,000.
The court also ordered an additional US$27,000 to be paid for the suffering passengers endured during the free fall.
Berisson has qualified the compensations as “completely unacceptable” and the victims’ relatives have pledged to fight for a higher amount.
Alain Manville, an attorney representing the airlines’ insurance company, has said he would likely seek an appeal.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By RODOLPHE LAMY
Associated Press Writer
FORT-DE-FRANCE, Martinique (AP) _ An ongoing investigation into a 2005 plane crash that killed 152 people from Martinique suggests that human error and not faulty maintenance was to blame, the island’s prosecutor told the victims’ relatives on Thursday.
One expert found that West Caribbean Airways — despite financial problems — provided regular maintenance to the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 plane that crashed three years ago, Claude Bellanger said during a meeting to update relatives on the investigation.
He said investigators believe the pilots lost speed when they tried to quickly ascend to avoid a cluster of storm clouds.
“They were in a zone … that they never should have entered,” Bellanger said.
An initial analysis of the plane’s black box recorders suggests the pilots did not react appropriately when they tried to stabilize the plane as it went into a three-minute free fall, he said.
Another expert is still analyzing whether human error played a part, Bellanger said.
Authorities have previously said the jet’s engines were running when it crashed and that the pilots had talked about weather conditions and possibly turning on the deicers.
Olivier Berisson, president of the Association of Victim’s Families, rejected Bellanger’s explanations.
“It is nonetheless surprising that there were no maintenance problems with a company that had two crashes in the same year,” he said.
A West Caribbean Airways plane crashed in March 2005 after taking off from Colombia’s Providencia Island, killing eight people. Five months later, on Aug. 16, one of its charter jets en route from Panama crashed in Venezuela, killing 160 people, the majority of whom were tourists from Martinique.
A Fort-de-France court recently ordered the airline to pay US$3.7 million to the families of 28 victims. Compensations would vary: A victim’s nephew could receive US$8,000 while a parent or child could get US$54,000.
The court also ordered an additional US$27,000 to be paid for the suffering passengers endured during the free fall.
Berisson has qualified the compensations as “completely unacceptable” and the victims’ relatives have pledged to fight for a higher amount.
Alain Manville, an attorney representing the airlines’ insurance company, has said he would likely seek an appeal.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Spanish judge orders plane crash site cleanup
Date: 9/25/2008 12:36 PM
By DANIEL WOOLLS
Associated Press Writer
MADRID, Spain (AP) _ A Spanish judge on Thursday ordered a cleanup of the site of last month’s plane crash in Madrid in which 154 people died, after a newspaper ran photos of clothes and personal effects still strewn on the ground there.
The photos in El Mundo show a red-and-yellow Spanish soccer jersey and other items of clothing in at least one area of the crash site. A story accompanying the shots said there are also scorched books, muddied photos and many other personal effects that spilled out of the Spanair MD-82′s cargo holds.
El Mundo said the photos were taken Wednesday, more than a month after the Aug. 20 crash of the plane, which was bound for the Canary Islands.
Judge Juan Javier Perez, who is leading into a probe into the possibility of criminal liability in the accident, said the general state of the site “apparently … does not correspond” with the pictures in El Mundo, according to a statement released by the Madrid Superior Court of Justice.
The Development Ministry, which overseas a civil aviation panel staging a separate probe on what caused the accident, said that from the time of the crash until Sept. 12, the judge had barred crews from removing any personal effects from the crash site. It said this was to allow experts combing through the wreckage to do their work.
On Sept. 12 the judge lifted this ban, but Spanair immediately asked him to reinstate it so the company could have an expert of its own examine the site, and the judge agreed, a ministry official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with ministry rules.
Perez has now ordered a cleanup because that examination by Spanair has concluded, the court statement said.
The Spanair plane crashed on takeoff, hitting the ground tail-first and bouncing three times as it skidded across a grassy area next to the runway, then exploded in flames and largely disintegrated.
No cause has been established, but a preliminary report by the crash probe panel says the plane tried to take off without deploying its wing flaps — which provide extra lift on takeoff — and the pilot did not know this because a cockpit alarm that was supposed to warn of this problem failed to go off.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By DANIEL WOOLLS
Associated Press Writer
MADRID, Spain (AP) _ A Spanish judge on Thursday ordered a cleanup of the site of last month’s plane crash in Madrid in which 154 people died, after a newspaper ran photos of clothes and personal effects still strewn on the ground there.
The photos in El Mundo show a red-and-yellow Spanish soccer jersey and other items of clothing in at least one area of the crash site. A story accompanying the shots said there are also scorched books, muddied photos and many other personal effects that spilled out of the Spanair MD-82′s cargo holds.
El Mundo said the photos were taken Wednesday, more than a month after the Aug. 20 crash of the plane, which was bound for the Canary Islands.
Judge Juan Javier Perez, who is leading into a probe into the possibility of criminal liability in the accident, said the general state of the site “apparently … does not correspond” with the pictures in El Mundo, according to a statement released by the Madrid Superior Court of Justice.
The Development Ministry, which overseas a civil aviation panel staging a separate probe on what caused the accident, said that from the time of the crash until Sept. 12, the judge had barred crews from removing any personal effects from the crash site. It said this was to allow experts combing through the wreckage to do their work.
On Sept. 12 the judge lifted this ban, but Spanair immediately asked him to reinstate it so the company could have an expert of its own examine the site, and the judge agreed, a ministry official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with ministry rules.
Perez has now ordered a cleanup because that examination by Spanair has concluded, the court statement said.
The Spanair plane crashed on takeoff, hitting the ground tail-first and bouncing three times as it skidded across a grassy area next to the runway, then exploded in flames and largely disintegrated.
No cause has been established, but a preliminary report by the crash probe panel says the plane tried to take off without deploying its wing flaps — which provide extra lift on takeoff — and the pilot did not know this because a cockpit alarm that was supposed to warn of this problem failed to go off.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.