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Wellstone Crash Probe Focuses on Ice, Navigation Gear
Aired October 28, 2002 - 14:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Now let's move on to Minnesota, where former Vice President Walter Mondale seems a distinct, maybe even a very strong possibility to take the place of Paul Wellstone on the Democratic ballot a week from tomorrow.
Over the weekend, Wellstone's elder son personally asked Mondale to step in. But the party won't make its decision until Wednesday. As for the plane crash that killed Minnesota's senator -- senior senator, along with other seven other people, investigators are looking hard at ice and a slightly off kilter beacon.
CNN's Susan Candiotti is live from the crash site with more on the investigation.
Susan, good to see you.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Martin.
Yes, there's been a partial change out of personnel here at the crash site as some of the dozen or so NTSB investigators boarded a plane this morning and headed back, some having completed their work, going back to where their main offices are and others returning to Washington D.C to continue to analyze data at NTSB headquarters in Washington.
So, the weather conditions, as you can see from the plane taking off, not the most conducive for collecting evidence at the crash site this day. Wet snow now adding to the swamp-like area that the investigators have to get through to reach the wreckage area. These pictures you're looking at were allowed to be taken by us on Sunday.
Investigators are calling this the difficult stage, because it's very meticulous now, picking up every little bit and piece down to the nuts and bolts and retrieving them for study. The engines are being sent to their manufacturer in Canada to be torn down, stripped apart and the tail and wing, so far, are still at the site.
Weather remains a focus, but not the focus here because investigators say that while conditions were not good last Friday, visibility down to about two miles, they also were not what are described as severe.
Also revealed that radio beacon that you referred to was slightly off kilter located near the end of the runway here in Eveleth, but again, investigators say not critical enough to have made a real difference, they don't think, at this stage.
Also, investigators talking about a timeline, revealing these key elements about what happened on Friday.
For example, at 9:37 a.m., Senator Wellstone's plane took off with eight people on board. At 10:01, it was cleared to land at Eveleth Airport and there were icing conditions reported at 9,000 to 11,000 feet. At that point, they were traveling at about 30 -- 13,000 feet. But then at 10:18 the plane was lined up with the runway at Eveleth. At 10:19, however, it began to drift southward. And at 10:21, that was the last radar sighting. That was northeast of the crash site.
Now, on Sunday, there was some time to grieve for family members of the eight people aboard that flight. Those who wanted to were escorted to the wreckage area and 17 people took part in that. They were accompanied by a chaplain. They left behind roses and some mementos, including the photograph of a young campaign staffer, 23- year-old Will Mclaughlin who is posing there with senator Wellstone.
Now, a final note to tell you about. A local medical examiner on Sunday completed his identification of the remains of the victims who were badly burned, which means, of course, that they can now be returned to their families -- Martin.
SAVIDGE: Susan, I think I know the answer to this, but there was no black box for this type of aircraft?
CANDIOTTI: That's correct. Black box was not required, neither a flight data recorder or a cockpit voice recorder, unfortunately.
Apparently, with this type of aircraft, because of its particular configuration, it was not required by the FAA and the owner-operator elected not to voluntarily install one, unfortunately.
SAVIDGE: All right, Susan Candiotti, thank you very much for that update.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 28, 2002 - 14:04 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Now let's move on to Minnesota, where former Vice President Walter Mondale seems a distinct, maybe even a very strong possibility to take the place of Paul Wellstone on the Democratic ballot a week from tomorrow.
Over the weekend, Wellstone's elder son personally asked Mondale to step in. But the party won't make its decision until Wednesday. As for the plane crash that killed Minnesota's senator -- senior senator, along with other seven other people, investigators are looking hard at ice and a slightly off kilter beacon.
CNN's Susan Candiotti is live from the crash site with more on the investigation.
Susan, good to see you.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Martin.
Yes, there's been a partial change out of personnel here at the crash site as some of the dozen or so NTSB investigators boarded a plane this morning and headed back, some having completed their work, going back to where their main offices are and others returning to Washington D.C to continue to analyze data at NTSB headquarters in Washington.
So, the weather conditions, as you can see from the plane taking off, not the most conducive for collecting evidence at the crash site this day. Wet snow now adding to the swamp-like area that the investigators have to get through to reach the wreckage area. These pictures you're looking at were allowed to be taken by us on Sunday.
Investigators are calling this the difficult stage, because it's very meticulous now, picking up every little bit and piece down to the nuts and bolts and retrieving them for study. The engines are being sent to their manufacturer in Canada to be torn down, stripped apart and the tail and wing, so far, are still at the site.
Weather remains a focus, but not the focus here because investigators say that while conditions were not good last Friday, visibility down to about two miles, they also were not what are described as severe.
Also revealed that radio beacon that you referred to was slightly off kilter located near the end of the runway here in Eveleth, but again, investigators say not critical enough to have made a real difference, they don't think, at this stage.
Also, investigators talking about a timeline, revealing these key elements about what happened on Friday.
For example, at 9:37 a.m., Senator Wellstone's plane took off with eight people on board. At 10:01, it was cleared to land at Eveleth Airport and there were icing conditions reported at 9,000 to 11,000 feet. At that point, they were traveling at about 30 -- 13,000 feet. But then at 10:18 the plane was lined up with the runway at Eveleth. At 10:19, however, it began to drift southward. And at 10:21, that was the last radar sighting. That was northeast of the crash site.
Now, on Sunday, there was some time to grieve for family members of the eight people aboard that flight. Those who wanted to were escorted to the wreckage area and 17 people took part in that. They were accompanied by a chaplain. They left behind roses and some mementos, including the photograph of a young campaign staffer, 23- year-old Will Mclaughlin who is posing there with senator Wellstone.
Now, a final note to tell you about. A local medical examiner on Sunday completed his identification of the remains of the victims who were badly burned, which means, of course, that they can now be returned to their families -- Martin.
SAVIDGE: Susan, I think I know the answer to this, but there was no black box for this type of aircraft?
CANDIOTTI: That's correct. Black box was not required, neither a flight data recorder or a cockpit voice recorder, unfortunately.
Apparently, with this type of aircraft, because of its particular configuration, it was not required by the FAA and the owner-operator elected not to voluntarily install one, unfortunately.
SAVIDGE: All right, Susan Candiotti, thank you very much for that update.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
