Date: 3/17/2009
By MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS
Associated Press Writer
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Civil aviation authorities are only told about 20 percent of dangerous flight incidents because pilots and air traffic controllers are afraid of losing their jobs or being prosecuted, a top European air safety official said Tuesday.
Eurocontrol official Erik Merckx said some countries are misusing laws to prosecute those who report problems. He did not specify which countries he was referring to.
Eurocontrol oversees flight safety and efficiency in its 38 member states, which are almost all European but include countries such as Turkey and Armenia.
“In many countries, pilots and also air traffic controllers are afraid to mention things that go wrong because they can be prosecuted and go to jail,” Merckx told The Associated Press on the sidelines of a European air safety conference in the Cypriot capital.
Reporting such incidents is obligatory under Eurocontrol regulations.
He said underreporting problems could hamper efforts to improve flight safety.
“I see it over the last couple of years that in certain countries, laws are actually misused to prosecute people who are, with the best intentions, doing their job,” Merckx said.
He proposed the urgent creation of an information exchange system under which incidents compromising flight safety would be passed on to aviation professionals to ensure mistakes aren’t repeated.
“If one pilot or air traffic controller makes an error, it would be good that everybody else knows that so that they can avoid those mistakes.”
He said Eurocontrol officials are trying to raise awareness about the issue with the justice ministries of several countries and the European Commission in order to rectify the problem.
“I think we’re only going to get it improved if we try to solve this at the European level,” Merckx said.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.
Missing plane’s pilot had only student license
Date: 12/17/2008
By DANICA COTO
Associated Press Writer
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The pilot of a plane that disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle with 11 passengers aboard had only a U.S. student pilot license and should have never been allowed to fly, Dominican authorities said Wednesday.
Adriano Jimenez had been stripped of his Dominican license in 2006 because he was caught flying multiengine planes when he was only authorized to fly helicopters, said Pedro Dominguez, president of the Dominican Pilots Association. Two weeks ago, he had a minor accident while landing a small plane at a Dominican airport.
“An in-depth investigation was never opened to prevent what today we are lamenting,” Dominguez said.
Jimenez loaded 11 passengers onto a twin-engine plane in Santiago, Dominican Republic, on Monday and filed a flight plan for a landing in Mayaguana Island in the Bahamas, but he never arrived, according to the Dominican Civil Aviation Institute.
Jimenez sent an emergency signal about 35 minutes after takeoff and then disappeared from the radar. He was flying in low visibility over rough seas, according to U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Barry Bena.
U.S. Coast Guard crews suspended their search Wednesday night after scouring about 5,300 sq. miles (13,727 sq. kilometers) without turning up any sign of the plane or its passengers, said Guard spokesman Lt. Matt Moorlag in Miami.
The plane went missing in the Bermuda Triangle, a zone of the Atlantic Ocean noted for a supposedly high number of unexplained losses of small boats and aircraft.
The U.S. Coast Guard says the mysteries can usually be attributed to storms that flare up quickly and to swift, Gulf Stream currents that wash away evidence of wreckage.
“Overall, the U.S. Coast Guard is not impressed with supernatural explanations of disasters at sea,” Moorlag said.
The missing aircraft’s owner, Luis Perez of Puerto Rico, said he hired a pilot to fly the BN2A MK III Trislander to the Dominican Republic so that Jimenez, a potential buyer, could inspect it.
The pilot who was supposed to fly the plane with Jimenez at his side refused to do so when Jimenez arrived at the airport with 11 passengers, according to Luis Irizarry, an attorney for Perez’ company. He said Jimenez then took the plane himself without authorization.
Jimenez, 43, received a U.S. student pilot license in March, according to U.S. Federal Aviation Administration records.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
By DANICA COTO
Associated Press Writer
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The pilot of a plane that disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle with 11 passengers aboard had only a U.S. student pilot license and should have never been allowed to fly, Dominican authorities said Wednesday.
Adriano Jimenez had been stripped of his Dominican license in 2006 because he was caught flying multiengine planes when he was only authorized to fly helicopters, said Pedro Dominguez, president of the Dominican Pilots Association. Two weeks ago, he had a minor accident while landing a small plane at a Dominican airport.
“An in-depth investigation was never opened to prevent what today we are lamenting,” Dominguez said.
Jimenez loaded 11 passengers onto a twin-engine plane in Santiago, Dominican Republic, on Monday and filed a flight plan for a landing in Mayaguana Island in the Bahamas, but he never arrived, according to the Dominican Civil Aviation Institute.
Jimenez sent an emergency signal about 35 minutes after takeoff and then disappeared from the radar. He was flying in low visibility over rough seas, according to U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Barry Bena.
U.S. Coast Guard crews suspended their search Wednesday night after scouring about 5,300 sq. miles (13,727 sq. kilometers) without turning up any sign of the plane or its passengers, said Guard spokesman Lt. Matt Moorlag in Miami.
The plane went missing in the Bermuda Triangle, a zone of the Atlantic Ocean noted for a supposedly high number of unexplained losses of small boats and aircraft.
The U.S. Coast Guard says the mysteries can usually be attributed to storms that flare up quickly and to swift, Gulf Stream currents that wash away evidence of wreckage.
“Overall, the U.S. Coast Guard is not impressed with supernatural explanations of disasters at sea,” Moorlag said.
The missing aircraft’s owner, Luis Perez of Puerto Rico, said he hired a pilot to fly the BN2A MK III Trislander to the Dominican Republic so that Jimenez, a potential buyer, could inspect it.
The pilot who was supposed to fly the plane with Jimenez at his side refused to do so when Jimenez arrived at the airport with 11 passengers, according to Luis Irizarry, an attorney for Perez’ company. He said Jimenez then took the plane himself without authorization.
Jimenez, 43, received a U.S. student pilot license in March, according to U.S. Federal Aviation Administration records.
Copyright 2008 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.
GUYANA: Plane carrying 3 missing in Guyana jungle during survey flight
Date: 11/2/2008
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — A U.S.-registered plane was missing in the Amazon jungles of Guyana after taking off to conduct aerial surveys for a Canadian mining company, aviation officials said Sunday. Three people were on board.
The aircraft was doing uranium survey work for Prometheus Resources Guyana Inc., a subsidiary of U308 Corporation of Toronto, Canada. It was flying over rugged terrain in western Guyana near Venezuela on Saturday when it went missing.
Two helicopters from a British parachute regiment that were training in the area joined the search-and-rescue operation Sunday, said Zulfikar Mohamed, Guyana’s civil aviation director.
“We have about seven aircraft and helicopters covering a wide area,” he said. “We have also asked the South American satellite system for help but that have not picked up any electronic signal as yet.”
The occupants of the plane were not identified.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — A U.S.-registered plane was missing in the Amazon jungles of Guyana after taking off to conduct aerial surveys for a Canadian mining company, aviation officials said Sunday. Three people were on board.
The aircraft was doing uranium survey work for Prometheus Resources Guyana Inc., a subsidiary of U308 Corporation of Toronto, Canada. It was flying over rugged terrain in western Guyana near Venezuela on Saturday when it went missing.
Two helicopters from a British parachute regiment that were training in the area joined the search-and-rescue operation Sunday, said Zulfikar Mohamed, Guyana’s civil aviation director.
“We have about seven aircraft and helicopters covering a wide area,” he said. “We have also asked the South American satellite system for help but that have not picked up any electronic signal as yet.”
The occupants of the plane were not identified.
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.
Calif. hiker finds ID that appears to be Fossett’s
Date: 10/2/2008 2:29 AM
By TRACIE CONE and JULIANA BARBASSA
Associated Press Writers
MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. (AP) _ Preston Morrow was having a little adventure, wandering off-trail alone to look for a remote mine. He was scrambling down a rugged embankment Monday when he noticed some brittle, weathered identification cards scattered among the decomposing pine needles.
“JAMES STEPHEN FOSSETT,” a pilot license read.
As in Steve Fossett, who circumnavigated the globe by himself in 2002 and vanished on a solo flight in a small plane more than a year ago. The subject of untold fruitless hours of searching by teams armed with high-tech equipment and NASA-designed software.
Didn’t ring a bell.
“I have to admit the name didn’t pop into my head,” Morrow said. It wasn’t until Tuesday, when he discussed his find with co-workers at a Mammoth Lakes sporting goods store, that he realized what he might be holding.
“Oh my gosh, this is going to be huge,” Morrow remembers thinking.
A picture of the pilot license — including a certificate number and Fossett’s date of birth — was sent to the Federal Aviation Administration and matched the agency’s records, spokesman Ian Gregor said.
“We’re trying to determine the authenticity of the document,” Gregor said.
The discovery sparked a renewed search effort that resulted in the sighting by air later Wednesday of what appeared to be wreckage.
Erica Stuart, spokeswoman for the Madera County Sheriff’s Office, said a ground team was en route to the site Wednesday night, and they hope to confirm Thursday whether there is wreckage and whether it belongs to Fossett.
The intial find fired gave the widow and friends of the millionaire adventurer renewed hope.
“I am hopeful that this search will locate the crash site and my husband’s remains,” Peggy Fossett said in a statement Wednesday. “I am grateful to all of those involved in this effort.”
Morrow, an avid outdoorsman who moved to Mammoth Lakes to be closer to the mountain slopes he had skied since childhood, was west of the Sierra Nevada town when he found IDs with Fossett’s name and some scattered cash — 10 $100 bills and a $5 bill.
Fossett disappeared Sept. 3, 2007, after taking off in a single-engine plane borrowed from a Nevada ranch owned by hotel magnate Barron Hilton. A judge declared Fossett legally dead in February following a search for the famed aviator that covered 20,000 square miles.
Aviators had flown over Mammoth Lakes, about 90 miles south of the ranch, in the search, but it had not been considered a likely place to find the plane. The most intense searching was concentrated well north of the town, given what searchers knew about sightings of Fossett’s plane, his plans for when he had intended to return and the amount of fuel he had in the plane.
Search teams led by the Madera County Sheriff’s Department began combing through the loose, rugged terrain Wednesday looking for the airplane wreckage. An air effort was expected to be under way soon, said Madera County sheriff’s spokeswoman Erica Stuart.
Morrow said he found no human remains or signs of the plane when he hiked back out to the mountain slope Tuesday with his wife and three friends.
While standing on a ridge about 100 yards from where the documents were first seen, Morrow’s wife, Natalie, found a black fleece sweat shirt, Nautica brand, size XL.
“It looked like it had been there a while — it was faded out quite a bit,” Natalie Morrow said. She left the sweat shirt, but gathered GPS coordinates to guide authorities to the site.
“I’m hoping the family can know exactly what happened, so they can have some kind of closure,” she said.
Preston Morrow had wanted to contact Fossett’s family first, so he consulted local attorney David Baumwohl, and together they tried to get through to lawyers representing the missing adventurer’s kin.
“We figured if it was us, we’d want to know first. We wouldn’t want to learn from the news,” Baumwohl said.
When they did not hear back by Wednesday morning, they decided to turn everything over to the police, the attorney said.
The California Civil Air Patrol and private planes from Hilton’s ranch previously had flown over the area, but it is “extremely rough country,” said Joe Sanford, undersheriff in Lyon County, Nev., which was involved in the initial search.
Mammoth Lakes is at an elevation of more than 7,800 feet on the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada, where peaks top 13,000 feet. This year’s biggest search for Fossett focused on Nevada’s Wassuk Range, more than 50 miles north of Mammoth Lakes. That search ended last month.
One of Fossett’s friends reacted to Wednesday’s news with cautious optimism.
If the belongings turn out to be authentic, then that could help narrow the search area for possible wreckage, said Ray Arvidson, a scientist at Washington University who worked on Fossett’s past balloon flights.
“It would be nice to get closure,” Arvidson said.
Fossett made a fortune trading futures and options on Chicago markets. He gained worldwide fame for more than 100 attempts and successes in setting records in high-tech balloons, gliders, jets and boats. In 2002, he became the first person to circle the world solo in a balloon. He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in July 2007.
He also swam the English Channel, completed an Ironman Triathlon, competed in the Iditarod dog sled race and climbed some of the world’s best-known peaks, including the Matterhorn in Switzerland and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
___
Juliana Barbassa reported from San Francisco. Associated Press writers Jason Dearen and Malia Wollan in San Francisco, Scott Sonner in Reno, Nev., Tom Tait in Las Vegas, and Alicia Chang and Jacob Adelman in Los Angeles also contributed to this report.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Summary
By TRACIE CONE and JULIANA BARBASSA
Associated Press Writers
MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. (AP) _ Preston Morrow was having a little adventure, wandering off-trail alone to look for a remote mine. He was scrambling down a rugged embankment Monday when he noticed some brittle, weathered identification cards scattered among the decomposing pine needles.
“JAMES STEPHEN FOSSETT,” a pilot license read.
As in Steve Fossett, who circumnavigated the globe by himself in 2002 and vanished on a solo flight in a small plane more than a year ago. The subject of untold fruitless hours of searching by teams armed with high-tech equipment and NASA-designed software.
Didn’t ring a bell.
“I have to admit the name didn’t pop into my head,” Morrow said. It wasn’t until Tuesday, when he discussed his find with co-workers at a Mammoth Lakes sporting goods store, that he realized what he might be holding.
“Oh my gosh, this is going to be huge,” Morrow remembers thinking.
A picture of the pilot license — including a certificate number and Fossett’s date of birth — was sent to the Federal Aviation Administration and matched the agency’s records, spokesman Ian Gregor said.
“We’re trying to determine the authenticity of the document,” Gregor said.
The discovery sparked a renewed search effort that resulted in the sighting by air later Wednesday of what appeared to be wreckage.
Erica Stuart, spokeswoman for the Madera County Sheriff’s Office, said a ground team was en route to the site Wednesday night, and they hope to confirm Thursday whether there is wreckage and whether it belongs to Fossett.
The intial find fired gave the widow and friends of the millionaire adventurer renewed hope.
“I am hopeful that this search will locate the crash site and my husband’s remains,” Peggy Fossett said in a statement Wednesday. “I am grateful to all of those involved in this effort.”
Morrow, an avid outdoorsman who moved to Mammoth Lakes to be closer to the mountain slopes he had skied since childhood, was west of the Sierra Nevada town when he found IDs with Fossett’s name and some scattered cash — 10 $100 bills and a $5 bill.
Fossett disappeared Sept. 3, 2007, after taking off in a single-engine plane borrowed from a Nevada ranch owned by hotel magnate Barron Hilton. A judge declared Fossett legally dead in February following a search for the famed aviator that covered 20,000 square miles.
Aviators had flown over Mammoth Lakes, about 90 miles south of the ranch, in the search, but it had not been considered a likely place to find the plane. The most intense searching was concentrated well north of the town, given what searchers knew about sightings of Fossett’s plane, his plans for when he had intended to return and the amount of fuel he had in the plane.
Search teams led by the Madera County Sheriff’s Department began combing through the loose, rugged terrain Wednesday looking for the airplane wreckage. An air effort was expected to be under way soon, said Madera County sheriff’s spokeswoman Erica Stuart.
Morrow said he found no human remains or signs of the plane when he hiked back out to the mountain slope Tuesday with his wife and three friends.
While standing on a ridge about 100 yards from where the documents were first seen, Morrow’s wife, Natalie, found a black fleece sweat shirt, Nautica brand, size XL.
“It looked like it had been there a while — it was faded out quite a bit,” Natalie Morrow said. She left the sweat shirt, but gathered GPS coordinates to guide authorities to the site.
“I’m hoping the family can know exactly what happened, so they can have some kind of closure,” she said.
Preston Morrow had wanted to contact Fossett’s family first, so he consulted local attorney David Baumwohl, and together they tried to get through to lawyers representing the missing adventurer’s kin.
“We figured if it was us, we’d want to know first. We wouldn’t want to learn from the news,” Baumwohl said.
When they did not hear back by Wednesday morning, they decided to turn everything over to the police, the attorney said.
The California Civil Air Patrol and private planes from Hilton’s ranch previously had flown over the area, but it is “extremely rough country,” said Joe Sanford, undersheriff in Lyon County, Nev., which was involved in the initial search.
Mammoth Lakes is at an elevation of more than 7,800 feet on the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada, where peaks top 13,000 feet. This year’s biggest search for Fossett focused on Nevada’s Wassuk Range, more than 50 miles north of Mammoth Lakes. That search ended last month.
One of Fossett’s friends reacted to Wednesday’s news with cautious optimism.
If the belongings turn out to be authentic, then that could help narrow the search area for possible wreckage, said Ray Arvidson, a scientist at Washington University who worked on Fossett’s past balloon flights.
“It would be nice to get closure,” Arvidson said.
Fossett made a fortune trading futures and options on Chicago markets. He gained worldwide fame for more than 100 attempts and successes in setting records in high-tech balloons, gliders, jets and boats. In 2002, he became the first person to circle the world solo in a balloon. He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in July 2007.
He also swam the English Channel, completed an Ironman Triathlon, competed in the Iditarod dog sled race and climbed some of the world’s best-known peaks, including the Matterhorn in Switzerland and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
___
Juliana Barbassa reported from San Francisco. Associated Press writers Jason Dearen and Malia Wollan in San Francisco, Scott Sonner in Reno, Nev., Tom Tait in Las Vegas, and Alicia Chang and Jacob Adelman in Los Angeles also contributed to this report.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
Summary
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.