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CNN Sunday Morning

White House: Plane Crashes Not Acts of Terrorism

Aired January 06, 2002 - 09:01   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: Reports of small plane crashes yesterday frayed some nerves. The Office of Homeland Defense was on alert and kept President Bush updated, but the White House now says the crashes in Florida, California and Colorado do not appear to be acts of terrorism. Authorities say the incident in Tampa involved a 15-year-old student who stole the plane from a flying school.

Military jets and a Coast Guard helicopter were scrambled to intercept the single engine Cessna. Witnesses say the pilot crashed into the 41-story building without trying to avoid it, the young pilot killed.

In Colorado, a pilot was killed when a small plane went down in a hillside north of Boulder. Firefighters were called to put out the flames from that crash.

The third small plane went down in a neighborhood near Los Angeles. The pilot of that twin engine Cessna was killed. There were no injuries on the ground.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A pair of F-15 fighters were scrambled to intercept the plane that crashed into the Tampa skyscraper, but they got there too late. For more on this, CNN's Kathleen Koch joins us now from the Pentagon.

Kathleen, what are you being told?

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, we understand that the U.S. military did have this wayward Cessna in its sights. A Coast Guard H-60 Jayhawk helicopter that was on routine homeland security patrol was diverted. It intercepted the small plane and it signaled the pilot to land but the pilot unfortunately -- excuse me -- ignored those signals.

Now as you pointed out, the U.S. military -- the U.S. Central Command, the very nerve center, which is coordinating the activities with the campaign in Afghanistan is just three miles away from downtown Tampa, and personnel there were also alerted to the fact that this small plane had gone astray.

NORAD, at the request of FAA, did order two combat jets to intercept the single engine plane, but the F-15s that were based at Homestead Air Force Base in Miami apparently arrived after that plane had already crashed. Now these dispatches of military jets are occurring on a much more frequent basis than they did before September 11, when the intercepts and the scrambles averaged only about a dozen times a month. In the three-month period starting September 11 through December 11, fighter jets were scrambled 92 times to respond to potential threats, while fighters already flying combat air patrols were diverted 115 times.

Now those combat air patrols are going on 24/7 over Washington, D.C. and New York City and the pilots are ordered to respond to anything that can be even remotely suspicious. And, of course Kyra, then there is the new shoot down policy, which was implemented in late September, giving the U.S. military in these flights, these jet planes the ability to fight -- excuse me, to shoot down any jetliner or any small private aircraft that does not obey orders to divert or to land -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Now these small planes, what kind of threat are they really? I mean they're so light and small, Kathleen.

KOCH: Kyra, the Federal Aviation Administration believes that the greatest danger the small aircraft pose is that they could potentially be stolen, be loaded with explosives, and used essentially as a flying bomb, and that is why they have now put a lot of restrictions on small aircraft, that they can not fly directly over downtown areas of Boston, New York City, Washington, D.C. They're also forbidden from flying over major outdoor or sporting events, where there are large crowds present.

But the people who fly these small aircraft point out that again, they are light. They are very small. They don't carry much fuel, certainly nothing anywhere remotely near what a major jetliner carries. And so, if they do strike a building, they'll cause very little damage, just as we saw in Tampa.

PHILLIPS: Our Kathleen Koch, live from the Pentagon, thanks so much.

KOCH: You're welcome.

PHILLIPS: Martin.

SAVIDGE: President Bush was briefed on the small plane crashes while attending an economic event in Oregon. Earlier in California, the president drew a line in the sand over Texas (sic).

CNN White House correspondent Kelly Wallace joins us now from the president's Texas ranch. It would be easy to get those taxes and "Texas" mixed up.

Good morning to you, Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Very difficult exactly, Marty. Good morning to you. Well a sign of how really the world has changed since September 11. As you noted, Mr. Bush briefed about that crash in Tampa before giving a speech in Oregon, and then it was on board Air Force One as he headed back to his ranch last night, where he was briefed about those crashes in California and Colorado.

And as you noted as well, Marty, the White House saying no indications that these crashes are related, and no indications that this is terrorism. But clearly, obviously lots of attention by the White House about those crashes yesterday.

But really the president's focus was the economy. You can say he stepped squarely into the election year debate and blame game over the economy, during that West Coast road trip, when he uttered a pledge that was very, very similar to a pledge by his father, the former president. Remember that "read my lips, no new taxes pledge" more than a decade ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE (voice over): President Bush launches his economic offensive, holding a Town Hall meeting in this largely Hispanic community of Ontario, California and sending a blunt message to Democratic critics of last year's more than trillion dollar tax cut.

GEORGE W. BUSH. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When they say a raise in taxes will help the country recover, not over my dead body will they raise your taxes.

WALLACE: But the Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle says he's not backing tax hikes. In a statement, Daschle said "No amount of hot rhetoric will get the economy back on track. Let me be clear, I proposed short-term tax cuts to create jobs, not tax increases."

Friday, Daschle argued the tax cut probably made the recession worse. Saturday, Mr. Bush fired back.

BUSH: There are some in Washington saying that the tax cut caused the recession. I don't know what economic textbook they're reading.

WALLACE: Later in the day, a visit to Portland, Oregon, the state with the highest unemployment rate in the country, all part of the presidential PR campaign focusing on the economic slowdown. This as Americans now select the economy over terrorism as the main problem affecting the country, according to a recent poll, and as political analysts say the onus is on the wartime president enjoying a sky-high approval rating.

NORMAN ORNSTEIN, AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE: The public reaction is going to be, if you can wipe out those terrorists, don't tell me you can't knock a few heads among those pissant members of the House and Senate down at the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue.

WALLACE: But Democrats see an opening, taking on a popular president on domestic issues.

SEN. BYRON DORGAN (D), NORTH DAKOTA: All of us have said repeatedly, he's done an outstanding job prosecuting this war against terrorism. But we also have some real serious problems here at home with our economy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: Now as for Mr. Bush, he will enjoy one more day of rest and relaxation before heading back to the White House tomorrow. His first order of business when he gets back to the White House, sitting down with his economic team, that meeting expected to include Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.

White House aides say you can expect the president to continue to talk about the economy in the weeks ahead. Bush advisers are all too aware that Mr. Bush and his party have much to lose in this year's Congressional elections if the economy does not turn around -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: Kelly, is there any chance the president's words might come back to haunt him, much like they did his father?

WALLACE: Well that is the key question of the day. Certainly that pledge by the former president turned out to be very politically costly, when he had to go back on it a couple of years later.

We're trying to find out if the president's words "not over my dead body" were actually planned, or if he just said them off the cuff at the podium. Clearly though, Marty, the White House was putting forward the sense that by criticizing the president's tax cut, that there are some out there, some Democrats who might want to repeal it, that the White House views that as a tax increase, and this administration saying that is absolutely the wrong thing to do during these tough economic times.

So again, it's a pledge that is now out there, and it is for Democrats to use down the road if the president ever had to back off from that pledge -- Marty.

SAVIDGE: I have the same question. I wondered if it was something he made at the spur of the moment or whether it was planned.

WALLACE: We'll try and find that one out.

SAVIDGE: Yes. Sometimes to deviate from the script is not wise.

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