US State Department Says Small Cropduster Missing Near Bahamas

Yahoo News ^ | 10/2/01

[areafiftyone]

A small cropdusting plane owned by the US State Department has gone missing near the Bahamas as it was returning to the United States from Colombia, the department said Tuesday.

The last contact with the plane was Monday morning after it left the Turks and Caicos Islands, where it had stopped overnight Sunday for refueling, en route to Patrick Air Force Base in Florida, spokesman Richard Boucher said.

The plane, which was being used in US-funded anti-drug efforts in Colombia, had been due for a regular maintenance and may have experienced problems as it flew in the Caribbean where the remnants of Hurricane Juliette were creating weather difficulties for aircraft, he said.

Boucher said the Coast Guard and Air Force began search and rescue operations from Patrick on Monday afternoon, continued through night during bad weather and resumed Tuesday morning.

"It's our understanding that the weather was bad and that weather conditions have improved from last night," he said.

A second State Department official said earlier there did not appear to be any connection between the disappearance of the two-seat cropduster and the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington when hijacked airliners were crashed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

After those attacks, US authorities temporarily grounded all cropdusting planes fearing that terrorists might use them to spray chemical or biological agents.

Boucher said the cropdusting equipment -- a spray boom and spray pump -- had been removed from the State Department plane before it left Colombia. The spray tanks were filled with fuel, he added.

[Irma]

may have experienced problems as it flew in the Caribbean where the remnants of Hurricane Juliette were creating weather difficulties for aircraft, he said.

Boucher said the cropdusting equipment -- a spray boom and spray pump -- had been removed from the State Department plane before it left Colombia.

This sounds like a weather related problem, but it's good to be alert for any missing aircraft. Thanks for the post!

[texlok]

>may have experienced problems as it flew in the Caribbean where the remnants of Hurricane Juliette were creating weather difficulties for aircraft, he said.

Having been around cropdusters, I gotta say, with all due respect to the pilot's family, that was dumb. Those planes are not the kind of planes you fly in somewhat bad weather, let alone the remnants of a hurricane.

[maestro]

??How many briefcase computers on board??
(/sarcasm)

[hoosierham]

The U.S. government has no business spraying poison on foreign lands unless war has been declared.

The terror attack on Sept 11 did not change the fact that some gov't policies are wrong and anti-freedom.

[tenderstone jr.]

The obvious assumption is that a the cropduster will be used in a future attack against the US. However, I think any cropduster that will be used in any future attack would have been legally purchased before the Sept. 11 attacks.