Friday, October 29, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 7
2 - 4 + 2 = 0.8 Y
Nation
Officials searching for clues in Stewart's Learjet wreckage
The Associated Press
MINA, S.D.—Federal investigators said yesterday they expected to finish picking up the pieces of golfer Payne Stewart's shattered Learjet by the end of the day, and confirmed they were looking at three other crashes for similarities to this week's tragedy.
About two dozen people wearing plastic bi-hazard suits worked yesterday at the site where Stewart's jet went down Monday after its ghostly autopilot trip halfway across the country. The crater, in a soggy portion of a cow pasture, was a jumble of black dirt surrounded by grass and tall weeds.
All of the wreckage was expected to be removed from the crater yesterday afternoon, said Bob Benzon of the National Transportation Safety Board. Investigators then will spend several days sorting through the pieces in an airport hangar in Aberdeen, S.D., to find parts that may offer clues to what caused the tragedy.
Benzon said investigators particularly were looking for valves and parts of the doors, windows and hydraulic components that could have caused a rapid loss of pressure in the plane's cabin. Some of the parts are only an inch or two across, he said.
"We're looking for little, little parts, like valves," he said.
The cockpit voice recorder was found just before sundown Wednesday, and was expected to arrive at the NTSB's Washington office late yesterday. Benzon said he hoped to get a report this morning about the tape's contents.
"We're looking for unusual noises that may indicate some kind of breach of the hull of the airplane." he said.
The recorder also might contain sounds from the plane's two engines, possibly giving clues as to whether the jet had mechanical problems before the crash. Benzon said.
Government officials have said one possible explanation for the crash is that the jet lost cabin pressure soon after taking off from Florida, causing everyone aboard to die or lose consciousness. That's why investigators are particularly eager to find valves in the wreckage that regulate air pressure.
Benzon said the NTSB was looking into three other cases in the past two decades in which Learjets have been involved in crashes with similarities to Monday's crash.
Yesterday in Houston, Stewart's peers on the professional tour gathered on the first tee of the Champions Golf Club to remember one of the game's most admired fixtures.
In a chilling start to the Tour Championship, a lone bagpiper played Going Home as he marched through fog on the first fairway.
Israel plans to deport doomsday Christians
The Associated Press
JERUSALEM—Israel will deport 17 Americans, two Britons and an Australian suspected of membership in Christian doomsday sects.
A second Australian was released because she already had purchased a plane ticket.
Two Britons were put on a flight to London, and 11 of the Americans were scheduled to depart for New York City early yesterday, police spokesman Rafi Yaffe said. Seven other detainees will be deported in the coming days when space becomes available on flights, he said.
Israel has been on increased alert for doomsday Christians who are suspected of planning violence to set off a chain of events that they maintain would bring about the second coming of Christ.
Israeli police arrested 21 foreign Christians on Monday for allegedly preparing the ground for groups from abroad planning apocalyptic acts ahead of the year 2000. The raid, in a neighborhood on the Mount of Olives, was the third Israeli operation in recent months against such Christian groups.
In January, Israel deported 14 members of the Denver-based Concerned Christians group on suspicions they planned to commit mass suicide in Jerusalem. And earlier this month, it deported a group of Irish and Romanian pilgrims it suspected of extremist tendencies.
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