Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, amid allegations of fundraising violations as chairman of the DNC, died in the crash of a Boeing 737 on the side of a Bosnian/Croation mountain.

The plane, an Air Force asset, was flown by a "pilot evaluator" with over 3000 hours on that type of aircraft and a co-pilot senior to him in hours. The official reason for the crash: incompetence of the flight crew! The President and cabinet members are allocated the best aircraft and pilots for their missions and these two pilots were certainly among the best. Although such things do happen it is unusual and warrants special attention.

It's been reported by Nolanda Hill, a close associate of Ron Brown, that Brown was not scheduled to participate in the trade mission to the Balkans. Ms. Hill said that shortly after subpoenas were issued the Whitehouse asked Brown to join the delegation.

The official accident investigation report indicated two other major reasons, beyond pilot error, for the accident. Of course, pilots are always the assumed cause of an accident when they are dead and can't defend themselves. First, There was an administrative failure, which led to the aircrew not being notified that the airport, and its approaches, had never been cleared as safe landing sites for their aircraft. The second major reason for the accident is that the runway approach was improperly designed - unsafe. The main reason sited for the accident, as reported earlier, is that the pilots failed to fly the plane on heading to the airport and crashed into the mountain. It seems confusing that pilots could land and launch a plane from an airport in a congested city, fly it across an ocean, navigate to the proper airport in the Balkans, and then fly the plane into a mountain.

On the day of the crash the Whitehouse and Pentagon had announced that the plane, in Croation air space, had not come under military fire. How could they possibly know when the only witnesses to the event were dead?

Initial statements from the Whitehouse described violent weather conditions at the time of the crash. According to the investigation report, the control tower was broadcasting that there was basically good weather: winds at 14 mph, light to moderate rain. Within an hour of the Brown crash U.S. Ambassador Peter Galbraith and the premier of Croatia landed at the same airport. The pilot of that plane later said, "I was sure they would land."

The day after the crash, before any investigators had inspected the site, Secretary of Defense William Perry said the crash was "a classic sort of accident that good instrumentation should be able to prevent."

The pilots of the plane were probably relying on Croatian ground beacons for navigation. Within minutes before the crash of Brown's plane several other planes landed without incident. None of them experienced problems with the beacons.

The Air Force report included the revelation that a portable navigation beacon, stored at the airport, had been missing before the crash and was never found. One conspiracy theory is that Brown's plane may have been "spoofed", a term for what happens when a false navigation signal causes a pilot to assume an incorrect heading.

Follow-up investigation of the beacons was inhibited because airport Maintenance Chief Niko Junic was found dead three days after the crash - from a gunshot wound. His death occurred before the investigators could question him. Officials announced the cause of death as suicide within a day.

Air Force Sgt. Shelley Kelly, a stewardess, survived the crash. Kelly was seated in a jumpseat in the aft section of the plane. Sgt. Shelley Kelly received first aid from Croatian rescuers, but died four hours later, on the way to a nearby hospital. Her autopsy report states that Sgt. Kelly died of a broken neck.

This document subject to change without notice - in order to better communicate my message.