WORLD NEWS Investigators find Alaska Airlines Flight 261 cockpit voice recorder by Edwin Garcia, Brandon Bailey, Michael Bazeley, and Frank Sweeney Knight-Ridder Tribune February 03, 2000 PORT HUENEME, Calif. Just hours after the Coast Guard called off its search for survivors of Alaska Airlines Flight 261, inves tigators Wednesday, February 2, found the cockpit voice recorder that may hold the key to explain ing why the jetliner plummeted into the Pacific, killing all 88 people on board. Investigators also said they're looking into reports that another crew had trouble with the horizon tal stabilizer on the same aircraft on an earlier flight to Puerto Vallarta on Monday, January 31. Alaska Airlines has denied that report. But National Transportation Safety Board officials said they are pur suing an array of theories that could explain the crash of that same air craft Monday afternoon. Attention has focused on the pos sibility of mechanical failure caused by a jammed horizontal sta bilizer, which helps pilots control the plane's climbs and descents. Two newspapers reported Thurs day, Feb. 3, however, that investi gators may also be considering whether the crew may have inad vertently caused the accident as they prepared for an emergency landing. Meanwhile on Wednesday, Feb. 2, an American Airlines jet made an emergency landing in Phoenix after the pilot reported a possible problem with its horizontal stabi lizer. And relatives of the Alaska Air lines victims gathered in a Los An geles hotel, where they prepared to visit the crash site in a large group some time last Thursday. A Coast Guard admiral said it had been a difficult decision to stop searching for survivors, but two days of intensive searching had convinced officials there was no hope that anyone on the plane was still alive. "We have tried to give every chance for success at reaching sur vivors," said Vice Admiral Tom Collins. "We must proceed to the next stage of this incident, this trag edy." Collins said it was time to begin focusing on recovering the wreck age of the plane. Less than 20 minutes before the Alaska jetliner plunged into the ocean, while en route from Puerto Vallarta to San Francisco and Se attle, the flight crew had notified air traffic controllers of a problem with the stabilizer on their MD-83 air craft. After struggling with the problem for several minutes, the crew received permission for an un scheduled landing at Los Angeles International Airport. Citing unnamed sources, the Washington Post and Dallas Morn ing News both said that prepara tions for emergency landing could have included changes in control settings that could change the air Study says origin of AIDS was 1 by Jeremy Manier Chicago Tribune February 02, 2000 SAN FRANCISCO As re searchers on Tuesday, February 1,2000, officially presented the details, of a study that pushes the origin of the AIDS pan demic back to around 1930, their results gave new ammuni tion to an obscure yet often emotional scientific dispute over recent claims that the vi rus first entered humans during tests of an early oral polio vac cine derived from primates. Most HIV experts at the Sev enth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections praised the meticu lous work that went into the new date estimate, calculated by running a massive database of HIV genetic sequences through one of the most power flow over the plane's tail which, in turn, could have caused a loss of control or an abrupt stall. Earlier, the safety board said its investigators were planning to in terview a different crew of pilots who flew that plane on its south bound journey to Puerto Vallarta earlier that Monday. The Seattle Times reported Wednesday, Feb. 2, that the earlier crew had radioed the airline's maintenance base in Se attle to discuss problems they were having with the stabilizer. "We don't know if that's true. We are investigating that," said NTSB member John Hammerschmidt, during a midday press conference. Alaska Airlines denied the report. "We stand behind our comment earlier this week that the aircraft had no history of stabilizer prob- A memorial to the victims of the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 stands on the beach on Feb. 1, 2000, at La Janelle Park in Oxnard, California. All 88 passengers and crew died when the plane crashed January 31. lems," said airline spokesman Greg Witter. He added that any further comment would have to come from the NTSB. Investigators also were analyzing a tape recording of a second con versation, this one between airline maintenance workers and the crew that was flying when the plane crashed. That crew had also called the Se attle base for help, as they were struggling to keep control of their plane in the final minutes before the crash. NTSB Chairman Jim Hall said the tape of that conversation should give investigators "a very good un derstanding of what the pilots were encountering and what they were trying to do with the difficulty, the problems that they had reported to air traffic control." "It covers all of their conversations while they are trying to trouble shoot this problem," Hall told CNN. The conversations are apparently difficult to hear, because the tape also contains a great deal of back ground noise. But according to the Dallas Morning News, which cited an unnamed source, they were re porting that the stabilizer wouldn't respond to their commands. Officials said the tape had been sent to a NTSB laboratory in Wash ington, where experts would be able to enhance the recording. In a series of television inter views Wednesday, Feb. 2, Hall also gave the first official confirmation ful supercomputers in the world. Researchers from Northwest ern University contributed to the study, which is summarized in the current issue of Science magazine and was reported by the Chicago Tribune on Mon day, Jan. I. Such work may give crucial insights into HlV's long-term evolution and future vaccines for the virus. Yet some of the world's top AIDS authorities at the confer ence were just as interested that the new date of 1930 seemed to weaken the controversial thesis, advanced in a book last year by British science writer Edward Hooper, that the virus spread to humans through accidental con tamination of an oral polio vac cine tested in central Africa dur ing the late 19505. Many researchers doubt Hooper's argument, saying it is that investigators are looking at whether the stabilizer could have jammed because of corrosion on the hinges that join the stabilizer with the tail of the aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration had issued an air worthiness directive last year, warning that corrosion could weaken the hinges. The FAA had given airlines until November of 2000 to inspect their fleets and make any necessary re pairs. The plane that crashed Mon day had not yet undergone that in spection. "Let me emphasize that we do not know if this is in anyway related to the accident sequence, - Flall told the MSNBC network, "however, because it is a service bulletin, be cause it was not completed, we will be looking very closely at that as well as all of the other information we have on the stabilizer." The horizontal stabilizer is the distinctive 40-foot wing mounted high on the tail of all MD-80 jets. Problems with the stabilizer are relatively rare, according to FAA records. Since 1982, there have been 50 reports of serious mechani cal problems with the stabilizer, and its attached elevator flaps, on MD -80 series aircraft. None involved Alaska Airlines aircraft. On Wednesday morning, however, an American Airlines jet of the same series made a successful emergency landing at Phoenix Sky Harbor In ternational Airport, about 20 min utes after taking off for Dallas. An NTSB spokesman said ground me chanics confirmed the plane's sta bilizer had jammed. A few hours later, at the crash site off the coast of Southern Califor nia, the Coast Guard acknowledged what many had suspected earlier— that after two days of intensive search efforts, there was no more chance of finding any survivors. Officials delayed their announce ment for several hours on Wednes day so they could notify the vic tims' families and explain the de- cision "Clearly ... there was an expres sion of several desires to keep the search efforts going," Collins said. But he added, "I was very frank with them. It's always difficult to call off a search for survivors, he explained. 930, disputing other recent claims more plausible that HIV spread from chimpanzees to people who hunted the animals for food. Moreover, they say, the polio vaccine theory could have a destructive effect, especially in Africa where some people have a distrust of Western re searchers and may draw the in correct conclusion that polio vaccines are dangerous. One conference attendee with a personal stake in the debate is Dr. Stanley Plotkin, a profes sor emeritus of immunology at the University of Pennsylvania. In the 1950 s Plotkin was a re search fellow at the Philadel phia-based Wistar Institute, which conducted the African polio vaccine tests. Plotkin said Tuesday, Feb. 'l, that he believes the new esti mate gives fresh evidence that HIV entered people decades before the vaccine tests took "It's not a decision you look for ward to making. But it was the cor- rect decision." The search for survivors ended 41 hours after the jet crashed into the cold waters of Santa Barbara Chan nel, about six miles off the Ventura County COast. Dozens of specially equipped military boats, helicop ters, and airplanes had scoured an area of 1,100 square miles along with a number of volunteer fishing boats but they found only the remains of four victims. As the effort shifted to a salvage operation, the first steps on Wednesday involved deployment of three ROVs remotely oper ated vehicles, or unmanned robots that can he sent underwater to vid eotape the wreckage while under the control of operators on the sur face. Officials said their first priority was locating the flight recorders. Experts have said these should give investigators a good idea of whether mechanical failure caused the crash, since the flight crew had been struggling with mechanical problems for at least 11 minutes be fore the plane went down. The voice recorder, which was re covered by one of the ROVs late Wednesday afternoon, should con tain actual cockpit conversations between the two pilots as they were fighting to save the aircraft. It was lifted on hoard the Kellie ,Schouest, a privately owned salvage ship that works on contract with the Navy. The second recording device, which investigators are still hoping to locate, contains a variety of data about the plane's speed, altitude, and the recent operating history of various mechanical and electronic systems. Separate investigative teams are also studying the maintenance his tory of the MD-83 aircraft and ana lyzing radar data from both the Fed eral Aviation Administration and the Air Force. In addition, they are interviewing pilots of four other air planes that were flying in the area and may have witnessed the crash. Meanwhile, more than 100 rela tives of people who were on the doomed flight had gathered Wednesday, Feb. 2, at the Renais sance Hotel in Los Angeles, where the Red Cross was operating a counseling and assistance center in conjunction with the airline. Many of those who had arrived at the hotel remained in a state of shock, said Chris Thomas, a Red Cross volunteer. "I just want to know that our fam ily members didn't suffer and that it was just fast," said Janis Ost Ford, whose brother Bob Ost was on board the plane. Officials planned to take family members to the coast near the crash site Thursday, Feb. 3. A memorial service was to be arranged later last week. "They will be able to deal with the emotional responses; they'll be able to see the search-and-rescue recovery process," Thomas said. Mercury News staff writer Rodney Foo and wire services contributed to this report. "I am more than ever con vinced that the book is com pletely wrong," Plotkin said, re ferring to Hooper's book, The River: A Journey to the Source of HIV and AIDS. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Tuesday, Feb. 1, that the new estimate of HlV's origins dam ages the argument that HIV came from a polio vaccine. "It's important because of all the publicity The River is get ting," Fauci said. The lead author of Tuesday's study, Bette Korber of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, took a relatively balanced view in assessing the significance of her work. "My work doesn't disprove Hooper," Korber said. "It just makes [his thesis] less likely." FEBRUARY 11, 2000, THE BEHREND BEACON, PAGE 5 First lady declares candidacy for U.S. by Susan Feeney Knight-Ridder Tribune February 07, 2000 PURCHASE, N.Y. First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. telling New Yorkers that she may he new to the neighborhood hut "not new to your concerns," made history Sunday by formally declaring her candidacy for the U.S. Senate from New York. Appearing before a giant "Hillary" banner with President Clinton and daughter Chelsea. Clinton told an adoring crowd, "1 care about the same issues you do. I understand them, and I know how to make progress on them. That's why, my friends, I want to he your senator." Her announcement made Clinton, an Illinois native who has never held public office, the first Presiden tial spouse ever to run for office. After almost a year of rocky pre liminary campaigning, she is in a virtual dead heat with her likely op ponent, Republican New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. "She's trying to reintroduce her self and take a second try to make a first impression," said Lee Miringoff, a poll taker at the Marist Institute in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. The famously verbose President said not a word Sunday, so the spot light could shine on his wife. He instead sat behind the first lady, clapping and nodding with spousal approval. As a part of that effort, Cabinet officials in the audience were not acknowledged, while vir tually every state and local law maker in attendance was. New York Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who is retiring from the Senate, said during his introduction of Clinton that he also knew former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who is Clinton's idol and role model. "Hillary, Eleanor Roosevelt would love you," he said. Clinton, seeking to reassure New Yorkers and to answer critics who have questioned her candidacy in New York, said: "Some people may ask why I'm doing this here and now. That's a fair question," she said. "I may be new to your neigh borhood, but I am not new to your concerns." She suggested she is a centrist Democrat who has been fighting for issues such as education, children, health care, gun control, and women since long before her husband was elected President. "I'll be on your side," she said again and again. Miringoff, the poll taker, said the number of New Yorkers bothered by the first lady's outsider status dipped below 50 percent for the first time in his most recent survey. Howard Wolfson, Clinton's press secretary, predicted that concern would continue to decline as the first lady campaigns more in the state. But Bruce Teitelbaum, Giuliani's campaign manager, said that, given what Teitelbaum called the mayor's strong record of rejuvenating New York City, Clinton's candidacy "is going to be a tough sell." Referring to what is expected to be a fierce race and probably the most expen sive in U.S. Sen- First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton outside the White House on Dec. 2, 1999. ate history Clinton said, "I know it's not go ing to be an easy campaign. But hey, this is New York." Clinton and her advisers sought, through her speech and a bio graphical video on Sunday, to re make and soften her sometimes controversial public image "I make a mean tossed salad and a great omelet," Clinton said at one point in the video crafted by Hollywood pro ducer Linda Bloodworth- Thomason. Senate The film focused on Clinton's childhood and career hut played lightly on the last seven years. It also, for the first time, drew con siderable attention to first daughter Chelsea, whom the Clintons had kept out of the political spotlight. Saturday night, the Clintons at tended a potluck supper in their honor in their new neighborhood of Chappaqua, N.Y. The campaign let it be known that Clinton walked in carrying a chicken casserole. She told the Nen . York Turns in an interview that, on her "listening tour" of the state, she learned that voters have a caricature image of her. - What I have found is that people don't know anything really about the work that I did before Bill was elected President. And 'they] know very little except about health care about the work that I've done in the White House," she said. Clinton, w h o led the administration's failed health over haul in 1993, said, "It became so ap parent to me that in order to intro duce myself to the voters of New York, I was going to have to go hack and really share a lot of my lifestyle." There was no mention during the exuberant kickoff of the scandal plagued Clinton administration or how Clinton, while her husband was governor, once parlayed a $l,OOO investment into $lOO,OOO on the cattle futures market. And there were few doubters among the invited crowd of some 1,700 supporters who packed the gymnasium at Purchase College of the State University of New York, where the New York Knicks prac tice. The site is not far from the Clintons' new home on Old House Lane in Chappaqua. But at the White Plains Coach Restaurant and Diner, in another nearby suburb, ()pillion about the race was as passionate and deeply divided as the public opinion polls suggc_ , ,l "Can't stand her," said' 61-al Phelan, a retired real estate nianager and registered independent "I don't care for her principles," his wife, Carolyn Phalen, added. "I don't think she has any." Suzie Zweig, an office supply saleswoman and Democrat, praised Clinton's concern for education and health care and said it is important to put more women in the U.S. Sen ate. "I don't think it matters where they're from. Bobby Kennedy also was not from New York," she said. Businessman Ray Fernandez said bluntly he was hacking Clinton be cause, "1 don't like Giuliani. As far as I'm concerned, he can drop dead." Stock trader Pete Viglucci also supports the mayor. "He might be crude hut he's been effective." Of all the breakfast diners inter viewed Sunday morning, only Chris Kamenos, owner of the glass-block and-neon diner, said he was among the small slice of New Yorkers who are undecided. 0 BY HA
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