Intense Fire Followed Wellstone Crash

Intense Fire Followed Wellstone Crash

No Recorders On Board Plane

POSTED: 10:23 a.m. EDT October 26, 2002
UPDATED: 4:41 p.m. EDT October 26, 2002

The team investigating the plane crash that killed Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone won't have a cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorder to help them.

Acting NTSB chairman Carol Carmody says they were not on the twin-engine plane because they were not required.

Carmody says the crash site is very difficult to get to. She says the site near the small airport in Eveleth is very muddy and marshy and tank-like vehicles are required to get to the site.
Carmody says there was a very intense fire after the crash, which killed Wellstone, his wife, daughter, three staffers and two pilots. The fuselage and cockpit were destroyed.
There was freezing rain and light snow at the time of the crash. Carmody says the plane was not aligned with the runway at the time of the crash and the approach was at a steeper angle than one would have expected.

Wellstones Hated To Fly In Small Planes

Wellstone hated to fly, especially in small planes often used by politicians to fly to every corner of their states. His wife, Sheila, hated to fly, too.

Wellstone once told an audience he had a bad feeling about the couple flying in a small plane together.

Sen. Mark Dayton says Wellstone "willed himself" to fly because he believed in what he was doing. A former campaign aide says fear was a daily presence, but he had no choice.
Rep. Collin Peterson says Wellstone wouldn't fly unless there were two pilots on board. The two pilots on board Friday were killed as well.

Also killed was a friend of Sheila Wellstone who often traveled with her to calm her fear of flying in small planes.

Ventura Mulling Senate Vacancy

Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura hopes to decide by Monday -- if not sooner -- on how to handle the vacancy created by Wellstone's death.
Ventura is an independent and Wellstone was a Democrat.
Democrats also are pondering a replacement for Wellstone on the Nov. 5 ballot. He was running for a third term when he was killed in a plane crash Friday.
Ventura's spokesman, John Wodele, says he has the impression that Ventura will choose a Democrat to succeed Wellstone.
Wodele says his feeling is that Ventura does not want to upset what would have been the normal course of events. For example, if Wellstone had been defeated in November, he still would have been able to vote in the Senate until a new senator was inaugurated in January.

Clinton, Others Praise Senator

Words of praise from politicians of every stripe for the late senator.
Wellstone, his wife, a daughter and five others were killed in a plane crash Friday.
Former President Clinton says his life was "a profile in Courage," while Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy says "the nation lost its most passionate advocate for fairness and justice for all."
The Rev. Jesse Jakcson called Wellstone "the voice of conscience in the U.S. Senate and the catalyst of the coalition of hope."
The passionately liberal senator also drew praise from those who didn't share his views.
President Bush says Wellstone was "a man of deep convictions. He was a plainspoken fellow who did his best for his state and for his country."
Minnesota Republican Congressman Jim Ramstad says "nobody fought harder for the underdog." And North Carolina conservative Jesse Helms says Wellstone "was my friend and I was his."

MN Democrats Rush To Find Replacement

Shaken Minnesota Democrats have less than a week to come up with a replacement for Wellstone in a race that could decide control of the Senate.
Experts say it may take someone with the high-profile stature of former Vice President Walter Mondale, Skip Humphrey, son of the late vice president, or perhaps former Minnesota Viking Alan Page to pull it off.
Their names and a handful of others were in circulation within hours of the plane crash Friday that killed Wellstone, his wife, a daughter and five others.
As of last week, a poll showed Wellstone with a slight lead over his Republican opponent.
Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer says state law allows the party to pick someone to run in Wellstone's spot Nov. 5, but the deadline is next Thursday.