January 7, 2009
By JOAN LOWY
WASHINGTON (AP) — It was very windy when a Continental Airlines jet was destroyed while trying to take off in Denver last month, leading aviation safety experts to cite crosswinds as a likely factor in the accident.
But were those winds strong enough to “weather-vane” the Boeing 737-500? In that phenomenon, the wind pushes an airliner’s tail hard enough to swing its nose into the wind, like a weather vane. In Denver, experts suspect weather-vaning caused the plane to skitter off the runway in a bone-jarring ride across open, snowy fields, eventually coming to a halt and catching fire. But some additional factor — either mechanical failure or human error — probably also played a role, safety experts said.
Crosswinds were “definitely a contributing factor,” said John Cox, a former pilot and president of Safety Operating Systems, an aviation consulting firm in Washington. “Whether it’s causal or not, I don’t think you have enough information to go there yet,”
Gusts of up to 37 mph were reported at Denver International Airport on the day of the accident, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Cox and other experts said those gusts may have been strong enough to push the aircraft’s tail around, but the plane’s pilots should have been able to compensate.
Continental Airlines flight 1404 was taking off for Houston on Dec. 20 when the accident occurred. The main landing gear was sheared off, its nose gear collapsed, and the plane carrying 110 passengers rumbled about 2,000 feet from the runway. Thirty-seven people were injured.
NTSB officials have said the plane’s brakes and engines appeared to have been operating normally. Investigators dug the destroyed nose gear out of the ground last week, and safety board spokesman Peter Knudson said preliminary results of that examination may be available later this week.
“We’re looking at (crosswinds), but it’s just one thing we’re looking at,” Knudson said. “Nothing is off the table.”
Spokesmen for Boeing and Continental declined to reveal their guidelines on safely operating the 737-500 in crosswinds. However, Knudson said the winds at the time of the accident should have been “within the envelope” of what the plane could withstand.
NTSB has not identified the plane’s pilot, and the Air Line Pilots Association declined to comment.
But John Nance, a former pilot and aviation safety consultant, was doubtful that crosswinds will ultimately be shown to be a cause. He said wind created by the plane’s velocity as it gained speed heading north down the runway would have offset the impact of the crosswinds from the west.
“It would have taken a mighty burst of wind way, way above anything anybody has recorded, in my view,” Nance said.
Also, he said, compensating for the type of crosswinds experienced in Denver that day would have been second nature for an experienced pilot, “just like riding a bicycle.”
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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.
FAA renews, toughens warning to Boeing 737 pilots
Date: 11/10/2008
By TIM KLASS
Associated Press Writer
SEATTLE (AP) _ The Federal Aviation Administration has toughened a requirement that Boeing 737 pilots be reminded not to ignore a cabin pressure warning horn, ordering preflight briefings as well as changes in manuals.
The airworthiness directive, issued Monday and effective Nov. 25, stems from a crash in which 121 people died on Aug. 14, 2005, when a Helios Airways 737-300 slammed into a hillside north of Athens, Greece.
Greek investigators determined that the pilots had lost consciousness because of a cabin pressure failure shortly after takeoff on a flight from Nicosia, Cyprus, and that the plane kept going on autopilot for two hours until it ran out of fuel.
Authorities say the cabin pressure control settings had been operated improperly and that an alarm went unheeded. Last Tuesday the attorney general of Cyprus said five people would face criminal charges for the crash.
The FAA’s order applies to all Boeing 737s, the world’s best-selling commercial jet with more than 6,000 orders since the model was launched in 1965 and 5,397 in use worldwide, and takes effect in 120 days. Public notice and comment requirements were waived “because an unsafe condition exists that requires the immediate adoption” of the directive, according to the notice.
Changes in the manuals must be made by each airline. The process is complex, varying by aircraft as well as the nature of the change, and new wording must be validated before it can take effect, FAA spokesman Les Dorr said.
FAA directives typically are reissued by civil aviation authorities in other countries.
Chicago-based Boeing Co. and FAA representatives said the cockpit warning horn serves a dual purpose. On the ground it indicates something is wrong with the plane’s pre-takeoff configuration, such as the setting of the wing flaps. In the air it means a loss of cabin pressure, which can cause pilots to lose consciousness if they don’t immediately put on oxygen masks.
The FAA directed on July 7, 2006, that flight manuals be changed to remind pilots to pay heed to the warning horn after takeoff, but “we have received continuing reports of in-service events involving failure of the flight crew to recognize and react property to valid cabin altitude (air pressure) warning horns,” according to the latest directive.
It was not immediately clear which airlines were involved in the reports of pilots ignoring the horn, when the problems occurred or whether any U.S. carriers were involved.
Such problems in other countries typically are reported to civil aviation authorities who then notify the manufacturer, in this case Boeing, which in turn alerts the FAA, Dorr said.
Before the Helios crash, Boeing was alerted to “some cases where flight crews were getting confused” about the alarm horn and advised airlines “to do a little crew training on that,” Boeing spokeswoman Liz Verdier said.
After the FAA’s initial directive, which largely incorporated Boeing’s advisory note, the manufacturer began working on a change in the cockpit and flight deck design to incorporate a warning light that will provide a second indication of cabin pressure loss when the horn sounds, Verdier said.
“Within the next month or so,” she said, Boeing expects to have the change ready to incorporate into production of current models, the 737-700, -800 and 900, followed by production of retrofitting kits for earlier models a few months after that.
The FAA may propose further action to “address the unsafe condition” once the warning light kits are available, according to the airworthiness directive.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By TIM KLASS
Associated Press Writer
SEATTLE (AP) _ The Federal Aviation Administration has toughened a requirement that Boeing 737 pilots be reminded not to ignore a cabin pressure warning horn, ordering preflight briefings as well as changes in manuals.
The airworthiness directive, issued Monday and effective Nov. 25, stems from a crash in which 121 people died on Aug. 14, 2005, when a Helios Airways 737-300 slammed into a hillside north of Athens, Greece.
Greek investigators determined that the pilots had lost consciousness because of a cabin pressure failure shortly after takeoff on a flight from Nicosia, Cyprus, and that the plane kept going on autopilot for two hours until it ran out of fuel.
Authorities say the cabin pressure control settings had been operated improperly and that an alarm went unheeded. Last Tuesday the attorney general of Cyprus said five people would face criminal charges for the crash.
The FAA’s order applies to all Boeing 737s, the world’s best-selling commercial jet with more than 6,000 orders since the model was launched in 1965 and 5,397 in use worldwide, and takes effect in 120 days. Public notice and comment requirements were waived “because an unsafe condition exists that requires the immediate adoption” of the directive, according to the notice.
Changes in the manuals must be made by each airline. The process is complex, varying by aircraft as well as the nature of the change, and new wording must be validated before it can take effect, FAA spokesman Les Dorr said.
FAA directives typically are reissued by civil aviation authorities in other countries.
Chicago-based Boeing Co. and FAA representatives said the cockpit warning horn serves a dual purpose. On the ground it indicates something is wrong with the plane’s pre-takeoff configuration, such as the setting of the wing flaps. In the air it means a loss of cabin pressure, which can cause pilots to lose consciousness if they don’t immediately put on oxygen masks.
The FAA directed on July 7, 2006, that flight manuals be changed to remind pilots to pay heed to the warning horn after takeoff, but “we have received continuing reports of in-service events involving failure of the flight crew to recognize and react property to valid cabin altitude (air pressure) warning horns,” according to the latest directive.
It was not immediately clear which airlines were involved in the reports of pilots ignoring the horn, when the problems occurred or whether any U.S. carriers were involved.
Such problems in other countries typically are reported to civil aviation authorities who then notify the manufacturer, in this case Boeing, which in turn alerts the FAA, Dorr said.
Before the Helios crash, Boeing was alerted to “some cases where flight crews were getting confused” about the alarm horn and advised airlines “to do a little crew training on that,” Boeing spokeswoman Liz Verdier said.
After the FAA’s initial directive, which largely incorporated Boeing’s advisory note, the manufacturer began working on a change in the cockpit and flight deck design to incorporate a warning light that will provide a second indication of cabin pressure loss when the horn sounds, Verdier said.
“Within the next month or so,” she said, Boeing expects to have the change ready to incorporate into production of current models, the 737-700, -800 and 900, followed by production of retrofitting kits for earlier models a few months after that.
The FAA may propose further action to “address the unsafe condition” once the warning light kits are available, according to the airworthiness directive.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Black boxes from Mexican plane crash sent to US
Date: 11/7/2008
By ALEXANDRA OLSON
Associated Press Writer
MEXICO CITY (AP) _ Two flight recorders from a plane crash that killed Mexico’s No. 2 government official were sent to the U.S. for examination, officials said Thursday, amid widespread speculation — but no evidence — that drug cartels were to blame.
Both “black boxes” were found where the Learjet 45 slammed into rush-hour traffic in a posh Mexico City neighborhood, Transportation Secretary Luis Tellez said at a news conference. Five people on the ground and nine people on the plane were killed in Tuesday’s crash, including Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino.
Officials say they have few clues as to why the plane suddenly dropped from the evening sky.
But they have been unusually open in publicizing details of the investigation, trying to discourage conspiracy theories that thrive in a country on edge from relentless news of drug-related shootings, kidnappings and beheadings. The violence has surged during a 2-year-old army and police offensive to wrest control from drug cartels.
The 37-year-old Mourino, one of President Felipe Calderon’s closest confidants, was Mexico’s equivalent of vice president and domestic security chief. Also on the plane was former anti-drug prosecutor Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, who had been the target of at least one assassination attempt.
“Nobody is more interested than me in the truth emerging and the cause of this incident being cleared up,” Calderon said at a memorial ceremony for the dead.
Tellez said experts would need at least a week to analyze the plane’s voice and data recorders for clues to what went wrong.
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.
“Everything was normal on the flight, and a few seconds before the accident, something happened that significantly altered” the situation, said Gilberto Lopez, a pilot overseeing the probe. “At this moment, all the possibilities are potentially important.”
He said experts are following the normal lines of investigation for any crash, including possible human error, mechanical failures, maintenance problems or turbulence caused by other aircraft.
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.
On Thursday, Calderon’s office said that U.S. President-elect Barack Obama had expressed his condolences for the deaths in a phone call with Calderon, who had called to congratulate Obama on his victory.
In an editorial Thursday, El Universal newspaper urged people to wait for results of the investigation before jumping to conclusions. But it also noted that Mexico’s “history is filled with assassinations that have never been cleared up or whose resolution does not deserve the trust of public opinion.”
In an unrelated incident, a small plane owned by a flight school made an emergency landing in a field just outside Mexico City, injuring both people aboard the craft. There was no immediate information on their condition or the cause of the mishap.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By ALEXANDRA OLSON
Associated Press Writer
MEXICO CITY (AP) _ Two flight recorders from a plane crash that killed Mexico’s No. 2 government official were sent to the U.S. for examination, officials said Thursday, amid widespread speculation — but no evidence — that drug cartels were to blame.
Both “black boxes” were found where the Learjet 45 slammed into rush-hour traffic in a posh Mexico City neighborhood, Transportation Secretary Luis Tellez said at a news conference. Five people on the ground and nine people on the plane were killed in Tuesday’s crash, including Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino.
Officials say they have few clues as to why the plane suddenly dropped from the evening sky.
But they have been unusually open in publicizing details of the investigation, trying to discourage conspiracy theories that thrive in a country on edge from relentless news of drug-related shootings, kidnappings and beheadings. The violence has surged during a 2-year-old army and police offensive to wrest control from drug cartels.
The 37-year-old Mourino, one of President Felipe Calderon’s closest confidants, was Mexico’s equivalent of vice president and domestic security chief. Also on the plane was former anti-drug prosecutor Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, who had been the target of at least one assassination attempt.
“Nobody is more interested than me in the truth emerging and the cause of this incident being cleared up,” Calderon said at a memorial ceremony for the dead.
Tellez said experts would need at least a week to analyze the plane’s voice and data recorders for clues to what went wrong.
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.
“Everything was normal on the flight, and a few seconds before the accident, something happened that significantly altered” the situation, said Gilberto Lopez, a pilot overseeing the probe. “At this moment, all the possibilities are potentially important.”
He said experts are following the normal lines of investigation for any crash, including possible human error, mechanical failures, maintenance problems or turbulence caused by other aircraft.
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.
On Thursday, Calderon’s office said that U.S. President-elect Barack Obama had expressed his condolences for the deaths in a phone call with Calderon, who had called to congratulate Obama on his victory.
In an editorial Thursday, El Universal newspaper urged people to wait for results of the investigation before jumping to conclusions. But it also noted that Mexico’s “history is filled with assassinations that have never been cleared up or whose resolution does not deserve the trust of public opinion.”
In an unrelated incident, a small plane owned by a flight school made an emergency landing in a field just outside Mexico City, injuring both people aboard the craft. There was no immediate information on their condition or the cause of the mishap.
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.
Flight crew to blame in 2006 “clipping” incident
Date: 9/30/2008 3:05 AM
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The flight crew of a Lufthansa jet was to blame for clipping another plane while taxiing at Newark Liberty International Airport in October 2006, the National Transportation Safety Board said. Investigators said the crew was distracted by a plane it was taxiing behind. The Lufthansa jet clipped the right wing of a Continental plane that was being towed. No one was injured.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The flight crew of a Lufthansa jet was to blame for clipping another plane while taxiing at Newark Liberty International Airport in October 2006, the National Transportation Safety Board said. Investigators said the crew was distracted by a plane it was taxiing behind. The Lufthansa jet clipped the right wing of a Continental plane that was being towed. No one was injured.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.