| Investigators say pilot error to blame for
crash that killed Sen. Wellstone
By LESLIE MILLER, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - Pilot error caused the plane crash that killed Sen.
Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., and seven others, investigators said Tuesday.
Investigators told the National Transportation Safety Board that the
twin-propeller King Air A100 stalled when it slowed down too quickly while
approaching Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport in northern Minnesota on
Oct. 25, 2002. The plane lost altitude, veered sharply, sheared off
treetops and crashed 2 1/2 miles short of the runway.
"The flight crew did not monitor and maintain minimum speed," NTSB
Aircraft Performance Group Chairman Charlie Pereira told the board, which
will vote on whether to accept the finding.
Wellstone; his wife, Sheila; their 33-year-old daughter, Marcia
Wellstone Markuson; three campaign workers and the pilot and co-pilot
died. They were traveling to a funeral.
The crash occurred less than two weeks before Election Day. Following
Wellstone's death, former Vice President Walter Mondale accepted the
Democratic candidacy. After a brief campaign, Republican Norm Coleman won
the seat Wellstone had held for nearly 12 years.
On the day of the crash it was cloudy and cold. Crash investigators
looked at the possibility icing on the wings contributed to the accident,
but discounted that and focused instead on pilot Richard Conry, 55, and
co-pilot Michael Guess, 30.
John Clark, the NTSB's director of aviation safety, said Conry and
Guess were flying too high and too fast as they began their approach. They
slowed down too much as they tried to make up for the mistake, he said.
The plane went from 190 mph to 87 mph in the final 90 seconds of the
flight.
It's unclear why the pilots didn't realize the plane was moving too
slowly. "One of them should have been monitoring the instruments," said
Bill Bramble, a human performance investigator for the NTSB.
Interviews conducted after the crash revealed shortcomings in the
proficiency of both pilots, investigators said.
(Published
11:01AM, November 18th, 2003)
| 
The News Tribune - Tacoma, WA
