Wellstone crash documents released

Updated: 02-21-2003 03:23:55 PM

By LESLIE MILLER
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - A pilot who died in the crash that killed Sen. Paul Wellstone near a Minnesota airfield last year had considered canceling the flight because of the weather, according to information made public Friday by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The report said Richard Conry had decided not to take the flight because of possible icing, then changed his mind because the weather improved.

The board didn't draw any conclusions, but the report suggested investigators think ice on the wings may have been a cause of the crash near the Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport, the plane's destination.

Before leaving from St. Paul Downtown Airport, a pilot, who had just arrived from Duluth, had spoken to Wellstone about weather conditions. He told Wellstone, in the last days of a close re-election campaign, that "the weather was at minimums, but the pilots could handle it," the report said.

The National Weather Service had advised pilots that icing was possible when Wellstone chartered the plane to a funeral in northeastern Minnesota.

The King Air A100 crashed about 21/2 miles from the airport, killing everyone aboard: Wellstone, D-Minn.; his wife, Sheila; their 33-year-old daughter, Marcia Wellstone Markuson; and five others.

The pilots on the chartered plane did not report icing during the flight, but air traffic controllers in Duluth said other planes in the area had moderate to light rime icing that morning, according to transcripts released as part of the report.

Investigators also suggested the pilots may not have known to activate deice boots, which cause ice to break clean from aircraft surfaces, at the first sign of an ice buildup. Activating the boots at the first sign of icing is a new recommended procedure that resulted from recent NASA research, the NTSB said.

Interviews with pilots at the charter company, Aviation Charter, "indicated that there were no clear standardized procedures as to how much ice should accumulate prior to operation of the deice boots," the report said.

Ice on a plane's wing disrupts the air flow and can cause the wing to lose its lift and the plane suddenly to change course.

Toxicological reports revealed no evidence of drug or alcohol use by Conry or the first officer, Michael Guess. The NTSB said it believes, based on radio transmissions, that Conry was at the controls when the plane went down.

The report hinted at other possible causes, including inaccurate navigational aids and human error. On a flight three days before the fatal flight, Conry mistakenly activated the wrong switch and caused the plane to pitch downward during the climb; the co-pilot corrected his action.

NTSB staff will draft a report that analyzes the accident and proposes conclusions about what caused it.

The board may hold a public meeting to discuss the staff report, NTSB spokesman Paul Schlamm said. The board will vote on the staff's findings about the crash, and may make safety recommendations that could be adopted by the Federal Aviation Administration.

http://www.kstp.com/article/view/83567/