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Posted on 11/12/2001 11:30:52 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
Monday November 12 2:24 PM ET
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By RON FOURNIER, AP White House Correspondent
WASHINGTON (AP) - White House spokesman Ari Fleischer (news - web sites) said there were no unusual communications from the cockpit of an American Airlines plane that crashed Monday in New York. The head of the U.S. safety board said current information indicates the crash was an accident.
Fleischer said President Bush (news - web sites) was informed of the crash within minutes of its occurrence in a residential section of Queens, and that Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge hastened to the White House Situation Room to confer with other senior officials on a conference call.
At a White House briefing, Fleischer said the National Transportation Safety Board (news - web sites) had been named the lead investigative agency into the crash, in which an Airbus crashed shortly after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Marion Blakey, chairwoman of the NTSB (news - web sites), said, ``All information we have currently is that this is an accident.''
The crash triggered moments of intense concern inside the administration, struggling to cope with the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks and the anthrax outbreak that followed a few weeks later.
But initial information seemed to allay concern that the American Airlines crash was another bout of terrorism. Several administration officials, including some at the White House, said that based on preliminary information the incident did not appear to be a terrorist attack.
Blakey said the flight data recorder had been recovered and would be analyzed by federal safety experts. Fleischer said there had been no credible threats against airplanes in advance of the crash.
The White House spokesman declined to rule terrorism in or out as a possible cause of the crash but said he would not dispute the assessment of U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, who said there was no preliminary evidence of terrorism.
The airlines have taken a financial beating since the suicide hijackings of Sept. 11, and officials have worked to rebuild public confidence in the industry. ``The president continues to believe that people need to travel,'' said Fleischer.
An administration source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said preliminary reports led the FBI (news - web sites) to believe there was an explosion aboard the plane, and was investigating whether it was an accident, mechanical failure or an act of sabotage. Fleischer said he could not confirm the report.
``There have been, according to eyewitnesses, information that an engine was seen being detached from the plane and that it landed separately from the main body of the airplane,'' he said.
With the nation on high alert, a result of the Sept. 11 attacks, Fleischer said Bush was in the Situation Room, convening a national security meeting, when he was handed a note shortly before 9:30 a.m. that a plane had gone down.
Bush spoke with New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (news - web sites) and Gov. George Pataki and ``expressed to both of them his deepest sympathy for the people of New York to be enduring any other trauma,'' Fleischer said.
The spokesman stepped to the microphones in the White House briefing room less than three hours after the plane crashed with 255 passengers and crew members aboard. Several eyewitnesses reported hearing explosions aboard the plane, and a piece of an engine came to rest outside a gas station in the Queens section of New York.
``There were no unusual communications with the cockpit,'' Fleischer said. He said investigators had not yet found the ``black box'' that records important in-flight information.
He also said Bush had dispatched federal investigators and search-and-rescue personnel to the scene.
New York area airports were closed in the wake of the crash, and federal officials briefly considered a nationwide shutdown. But Fleischer said officials did not intend to do that, and indicated the New York airports wouldn't be closed for long.
Bush postponed a scheduled interview with Russian and American reporters so he could monitor the investigation into the crash of Flight 587, which had just taken off from John F. Kennedy International Airport en route to the Dominican Republic. He meets Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites), opening three days of talks in Washington and Texas.
Intelligence agencies, the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites) were reviewing all recent intelligence for any signs that terrorism was involved but an hour after the crash there was no evidence pointing to an attack, said a U.S. official speaking only on condition of anonymity.
``They are comparing information to see if it provides any insight into what transpired. At this point, there's no indication of a terrorist attack, but it certainly can't be ruled out in current environment,'' the official said.
Earlier Stories
Official: Crash May Not Be Terror (November 12)
Bush Seeks NY Plane Crash Details (November 12)
Bush Seeks Details on NY Plane Crash (November 12)
White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer briefs reporters, Monday, Nov. 12, 2001, after an American Airlines jetliner, on its way to the Dominican Republic with 255 people aboard when it crashed moments after takeoff in New York City. Bush administration officials said the FBI believed there was an explosion aboard the plane, and was investigating whether it was the result of a mechanical failure or sabotage. (AP Photo/Doug Mills)
An FBI agent (L) holds one of the battered and dented "black box" flight recorders from American Airlines flight 587 in his lap as he removes it from the scene of the crash in a New York City police car November 12, 2001 in Queens, New York. An American Airlines Airbus A-300 passenger jet crashed while taking off from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. REUTERS/Jim Bourg
One of the battered and dented 'black box' flight recorders from American Airlines flight 587 lies on the ground beside a New York City police car as it is taken from the scene of the crash by an FBI agent November 12, 2001 in Queens, New York. Investigators quickly recovered the flight data recorder from the doomed jetliner and are transporting it to Washington for analysis. (Jim Bourg/Reuters)
I am fed up and I can't take it anymore. But, will read past your post before screaming into the computer again at the mess we are facing...
Blakely's statement is very unusual for the NTSB. No NTSB technical-type would ever make that statement at this point (and keep his job). Her comment makes much more sense when read with the following sentence. Bigtime spin. And before I'm accused of having stock in ALCOA, it may just be an effort to keep down panic. Still, it breaks a long-time and carefully preserved policy of the NTSB.
Pilots dump fuel when they believe they can return to an airport.
Pilots dump fuel but DO NOT report mechanical failure to the tower? You sound ridiculous, but thanks for echoing the government spin.
As nice as Bush is and as kind as hes been to go to ceremonies every day etc..the longer this goes on the more chance we are going to take a hit. This guy is not fooling around and he doesnt care about Afghanistan and its people only power.
Give me Boeing, or (sooner or later, if I'm dumb enough to keep rolling the dice) give me death via an Airbus!
Any chance your pilot dumped his fuel and DID NOT inform the tower that he was returning, as they are asking us to believe today?
Must be an accident.
Actually, I think it is exactly the opposite.
Americans can accept another terrorist attack, after all we've been warned.
What the people cannot accept is an Administration that will lie about it.
There is absolutely no basis for anybody to say that this is "probably a mechanical failure".
If the official line persists in putting out this preposterous nonsense at this stage of the investigation, especially in light of the eyewitness accounts, commercial aviation is in for major hard times.
Actually, there are a few puffed-up, self-important "nay-sayers" who have made quite a living for themselves here on FreeRepublic (sinky, poobah, etc.) by pretending to be experts on every topic from aerodymnamics and military strategy to political science and macro-economics.
The likely truth is that, while they are actually expert at nothing more than tearing others down for voicing their opinions, the habit of doing so allows them the convenient luxury of focusing on the imaginary problems of others, while it prevents them having to face and admit to their own pathetic haplessness.
I hope this helps. :-)
No they are not replaced...they are overhauled...that is taken apart and any problems fixed. there is a big difference between replacement and overhauling.
Not only that, but after they dumped fuel, they climbed and then did a nose first kamikazee dive into a Rockaway Beach residential neighborhood, just for kicks!
But then again, you pretty much admitted you're the bomber. Where'd you plant it?
Actually, On another thread it was said that an AA pilot was interviewed and he said that there is no capability on the Airbus300 to dump fuel. Even if you wanted to you couldn't.
Just wait, before this is over that plane will have developed that ability and many others.
The Bush Administration would be well advised to reign in the spin meisters and tell us they don't know, instead of putting out this preposterous nonsense less than 8 hours after the fact that this looks like an accident.
It actually looks like anything but an accident.
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