Crash investigation began at dawn today

Randy Furst
Star Tribune
Published Oct. 26, 2002

EVELETH, Minn. -- Federal investigators went to work Saturday on the grim task of combing the wreckage for clues to what caused the plane crash that killed Sen. Paul Wellstone and seven other people, but said the answers could take months.
Carol Carmody, acting chairman of the NTSB, said investigators would be searching for the cockpit voice recorder as they sought to determine what happened.
"It's too early to rule anything out or anything in," she said.

She said investigators hope to interview three or four people who were witnesses.

The crash site, in a wooded area, was about 300 feet wide, and has been roped off, she said.

"We couldn't see very much last night, " she said.

She said it was extremely difficult terrain. And investigators who arrived at about 8:30 p.m. Friday to look at the scene had to get to the site in twos and threes, on all-terrain vehicles.

"It's extremely marshy ground," she said.

There were reports last night of a plan to build some type of makeshift road so that vehicles could more easily reach the scene.

There were also reports that family members would be allowed to view the scene today, but that media might not be allowed to view the site until Sunday.

Carmody refused to speculate on what happened in the crash, but said NTSB specialists would be looking at all aspects of the accident including weather, the engines, human performance, the plane's structure and airworthiness of the aircraft.
She said the NTSB had brought experts in all areas of air crashes.

Key to learning more about the crash is finding the cockpit flight reporter. Carmody said the NTSB hoped to get in touch with the plane manufacturer to find out where the recorder was located inside the aircraft.

She said investigators also will be talking to flight controllers, obtaining radar tapes and reviewing weather records. She said they also will be reviewing the pilot's background and piloting history.

She said the NTSB planned to hold two news briefings today, one expected to be around midday and a second one later in the day.

Investigators met late last night to discuss how to proceed with the investigation.

The senator was on his way to attend the funeral of a state representative's father when the twin-engine private plane went down about 10 a.m. in freezing rain and light snow near the Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport, about 175 miles north of Minneapolis.
Carol Carmody
Marlin Levison
Star Tribune
The National Weather Service had issued an advisory to pilots that occasional moderate icing conditions were possible in the area. The airport's assistant manager, Gary Ulman, said the wreckage was not on the usual approach to the runway, suggesting the pilot might have aborted the landing.
Carmody, who had been vice chairman of the NTSB, became acting chair about a month ago after Marion Blakey, the chairman, an appointee of the Bush administration, moved over the head the Federal Aviation Administration, said Paul Schlamm, an NTSB spokesman.

Carmody, who was an appointee of the Clinton administration, previously was a U.S. representative to the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency based in Montreal.

The NTSB is a five-person board, which has responsibility for investigating major transportation accidents, but currently has only four members.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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