The Battalion
Vol.88 No. 4 LISPS 045360 26 Pages In 2 Sections
College Station, Texas
TVu, S^ \- 1
-Wcdnesday;-Augu3t 10, 1086
Delta jet crash at D-FW kills 13, injures 94
Survivors tell tales of horror aboard Flightl 141
Associated Press
Survivors of Delta Flight 1141 recounted their
escape from on board the fiery aircraft, saying
they knew they were going to crash and simply
hoped they wouldn’t die.
“You’re hoping you weren’t going to die,” said
Penn Waugh, a Dallas attorney who was on the
Boeing 727 when it crashed on takeoff from Dal-
las-Fort Worth International Airport, en route to
Salt Lake City. “It’s getting smoky and you're just
trying to get the hell out of the plane.”
“We were just terrified,” Mona Thomason,
who escaped with scrapes and bruises, said. “We
jumped on the wing, hut it looked like we were
jumping into a pit of fire.” She reported seeing a
woman with two children: “She got one of them
out, but I’m afraid the other one was caught in
the fire.”
Passenger Peter Wright of Dallas said the air
craft veered to the right on takeoff, and he heard
a banging noise under the carriage.
“Then someone said, ‘We’re not going to make
Graphic by Tom Eikel
it!”’ he said. “After the crash someone kicked the
door open.”
Wright’s traveling companion, Geoff Parkes,
said the plane lost power as it took off, and he
saw the right wing tip hit the ground. Flames
shot past his window, and jet fuel dripped down
the windows.
“People were saying, ‘Let’s get out of here!
Let’s get out!”’ Parkes said. “I jumped on the
wing following Peter and got out.”
Jane Wood, who is six months pregnant, and
her sons, Adam, 2, and Evan, 5, escaped without
serious injury by leaping through a crack near
the bulkhead.
“It was a big fire,” Evan said. “We jumped out,
but we weren’t seat ed.”
Jim Hammock of Garland said the plane
bounced three times on takeoff and skidded off
the runway.
“We didn’t make it 50 feet in the air,” Ham
mock said. “We skidded and then the engine ex
ploded. There was pandemonium. People were
jumping on the plane’s wing and burning them
selves on it because it was so red-hot.”
Melissa Jane Lewis of Tupelo, Miss., said she
remembers praying out loud and saying, “Oh
God, here we go” as the jet went down.
“I felt the engines losing power and noises like
tires blowing out on takeoff,” Lewis, who suf
fered only a bruise on her leg, said. “The fuse
lage filled with smoke and there was a lot of
noise.
“I hung on until the emergency door next to
me opened, then I climbed out on the wing and
hit the ground running.”
GRAPEVINE (AP) —Thirteen
>eople were killed Wednesday but
)4 others miraculously survived as
\ Delta Airlines jet crashed and
Hinted while taking off from Dal-
as-Forl Worth International Air-
jort, officials said.
Flight 1141, which originated
;arly Wednesday in Jackson, Miss.,
was en route to Salt Lake City with
17 passengers and seven crew
members, Delta officials said. A
See related stories throughout
paper
ew of those aboard the aircraft
rere babies and not included on
he passenger list.
“You heard the thing crumple,
o you knew you were going to
rash the whole time,” said passen-
er Penn Waugh, a lawyer from
lallas. “You were just looking for
way to get out of the plane.
Wre hoping you weren’t going
a die.
“You’re not scared. It’s getting
moky and you’re just trying to get
he hell out of the plane."
Sixty-one people were treated
and released from at least six area
hospitals, Della spokesman Henry
Conley said.
Passengers and witnesses said
the Boeing 727 appeared to be in
trouble as soon as it began to lift
off the runway in hazy sunshine at
9:03 a.m. CD F., about a half-hour
later than scheduled.
The accident is the second at
DFW involving Delta in three
years. On Aug. 2, 1985, Delta
Flight 191, an L-1011 jet, crashed
as it approached a runway during
a thunderstorm, killing 137 people
and injuring 25 others.
“For something like this, you’re
never fully prepared,” Conley said
when asked if the airline had
changed any procedures since the
1985 accident. “You just do the
best you can.”
Wednesday’s accident was at the
opposite end of the sprawling air
port, the world’s fourth-busiest
with nearly 42 million passengers
last year. At 17,800 acres, the air
port is the nation’s largest.
A National Transportation
Safety Board team was being as
sembled to investigate the crash.
“We werejust terrified,” passen
ger Mona Thomson said. “We
jumped on the wing but it looked
like we were jumping into a pit of
fire. There was a lady with a child
and she got one of them out, but
I’m afraid the other one was
caught in tfie fire.”
“On takeoff the plane bounced
three times and skidded off the
runway,” Jim Hammack, of Gar
land said. “I was sitting by the
emergency exit. I couldn’t believe
that the pilot didn’t go ahead and
land the plane. We didn’t make 50
feet in the air. We skidded and
then the engine exploded.”
Hammack described the scene
as pandemonium.
Magazine holds promotion in CS
tor models who posed from A&M
A&M model posed on a dare from a friend
By Alan Sembera
Staff Writer
Heather Marion, one of two rnod-
Is representing Texas A&M who
ppear in Playboy magazine’s newly
eleased “Girls of the Southwest
inference” pictorial, said Wednes-
aythat she has enjoyed bas ing her
icture published.
Marion, who was at a local
Jookstore promoting Playboy's
lewly released October issue, said
tie had gone to the first interview
lith Playboy photographers last
jiringon a dare.
I “A friend of mine didn’t think I’d
o the interview, so I did it,” she
jid. “I was really casual about it.
i “I didn’t think I had a chance.
)nce I was selected, it just really
joored me.
The publicity surrounding the
ictorial hasn’t affected her much,
le said, because she has been living
i Austin during the summer.
“It’s really remote,” she said, “be-
luse this all got a big buildup
round here, but I don’t live in town
aymore so I felt really closed of f
jrom it.”
Marion said she will stay in Austin
) work this semester so that she
irn enough money to return to
&M in the spring.
Heather Marion, a Playboy model,
Hastings Record store.
Posing for Playboy has sparked an
interest in modeling, she said, so she
will try working as a model in the
Austin area.
signs autographs Wednesday at
When she returns, she said, she
will probably continue singing with
the band “Behind the Times,” and
will continue her studies in the area
of theater arts. The 18-year-old has
been studying theater arts at A&M
for one year.
On her return she will get an un
listed phone number, she said, but
she acided that she doesn’t expect
any problems because of her posing
for Playboy.
When an autograph seeker asked
her if she already had encountered
any problems with “guys, jerks or
anything like that,” she replied,
“Yeah, but I had that before.”
The San Antonio native said pos
ing hasn’t caused any problems with
her family.
“They’re not real happy, but they
all know about it,” she said.
Leigh Sternbaum, the other Aggie
who appears in the Playboy pictorial,
was not at the promotion.
Don Donovan, the southern divi
sion manager for Playboy, said he
was unable to reach Sternbaum be
cause she had been out of town this
summer.
Playboy held similar promotions
at the eight other SWC schools, Do
novan said.
A&M, along with Texas Christian
University and Rice University, only
had two students appear in the pic
torial.
The University of Texas had the
most students appearing, with six.
Enrollment
up slightly
overfall ’87
First-day Texas A&M enroll
ment figures remained stable this
semester with 3&,440 students
registered, an inc rease of just 22
students from the first day of fall
dassesin 1987.
Official enrollment figures will
not be compiled until Sept. 13,
the 12th day of class.
Although preliminary figures
show a slight increase in regis
tered graduate and minority stu
dents, only about 6,000 freshmen
have registered — 1 1 percent
fewer than last year. A freshman
registration cap of 6,600 was set
after last year’s record-breaking
enrollment of 7,433.
A&M Registrar Donald Carter
predicts that several hundred
more students will enroll before
registration closes on Sept. 13,
but the previously-estimated en
rollment figure of 40,000 still
may be slightly high, he said.
An earlier application deadline
for freshmen and transfer stu
dents and changes in admission
requirements made predicting
enrollment figures difficult, he
said.
“We may not reach 40,000 stu
dents,” Carter said, “but it will be
close.”
Although about 1,000 jtrere-
gistered students have withdrawn
or have been dropped for not
paying their fees, Carter said
many have re-registered.
“Everything is positive from
where we stand,” Carter said. “It
has been a fairly routine opening
of a new semester.”
A&M president answers questions
about plans for University’s future
(Editor’s note: The following is
the first part of a two part series
which gives Texas A&M president
William H. Mobley’s views about is
sues, problems and challenges facing
A&M during his presidency and be
yond. The interviews for this story
were conducted on Aug. 18 and
Aug. 81.)
By Stephen Masters
Senior Staff Writer
After former Texas A&M presi
dent Frank E. Vandiver’s announc-
ment that he would step down, the
Board of Regents began a search for
the next president.
The search was officially closed
July 18 when former Senior Ful-
bright Scholar William H. Mobley
was named the 20th president of
A&M.
Mobley took of fice on Aug. 1.
Q: What are your goals for your
first year in office?
A: One, we’re expecting over
40,000 students in the fall, which is
an opportunity and a challenge. We
want to ensure that as we grow, we
really work hard to preserve the
quality of life on the campus. By
quality of student life I mean both
the academic quality of the institu
tion as well as all the other things
that make this a great institution: the
Corps, student activities, parking
(laughs). Just a full range of things
that make this a positive place to go
to school. So one of my goals is not
only to protect, but to enhance the
quality of the experience for the stu
dents.
Second, we’re clearly a major re
search institution and we want to
Frank E. Vandiver and Willian H. Mobley
continue to develop our research
programs. We have a number of
really exciting opportunities: bi
otechnology, energy, materials, ma
rine and ocean sciences. I could just
go on and on.
We have top-notch people, faculty
and students. We can really make a
difference in those areas. I’m com
mitted to seeing that in the coming
year and beyond we continue to de
velop our research programs.
In doing that, we’ve got to ensure
that we continue to emphasize the
instructional side of our University.
I suggested to tfie Boafd of Regents
when I was appointed that teaching
and research are not mutually exclu
sive; they are not argumentatives. It
takes attention to make sure that
they are both done well. It can be
done well. It is to students’ advan
tage to have faculty who are cutting-
edge people in their field. We want
to continue to encourage the devel
opment of our research programs
but at the same time continue to de
velop our instructional programs.
Third, the phrase “global village”
gets used frequently. It is not a trite
phrase and it is not a f uturistic com
ment. The global village has arrived.
We see it all around us. Transporta
tion and communications are such
that you can be in another part of
the world later today and you can
certainly know what’s going on in
any part of the world right now.
The economy is increasingly a
global economy. The problems. of
political and economic challenges
are global in nature. I believe that we
need to help all of our students, no
matter what theit major, discipline
or career goals, while they are in col
lege, to become well-prepared to be
enlightened citizens and leaders and
decisions makers in this global envi
ronment.
We need to know more about
what’s going on in the world to ap
preciate and understand different
cultures and to know more about ge
ography. It’s appalling to see some
of these surveys where people have
no idea where Nicaragua is, or
(think) the Contras are associated
with Europe. In a democracy where
elected officials help matters
through this complicated maze, we
need to know more about it.
I think an increasing number of
us in our careers, students in school
now, students who are just graduat
ing, henceforth, no matter what
their career path, may never leave
the United States, but are likely to be
involved in professional work activ
ities that in some way are related to
international activities. So we’ve
taken action to inf use more into our
curriculum, to create opportunities
for students to get abroad while
they’re students, to make it afforda
ble or have sufficient resources to al
low students to profit from interna
tional experiences.
We as an institution need to be-
See Mobley, page 17
Walesa wants
settlement
of labor strife
GDANSK, Poland (AP) — Solida
rity leader Lech Walesa called on Po
land’s striking workers Wednesday
to settle their local grievances and
end the country’s worst labor unrest
in seven years.
Walesa made the appeal hours af
ter meeting with government lead
ers on the wave of strikes that began
Aug. 16 calling for higher wages and
the legalization of Solidarity.
He said the national issues of
guaranteeing trade union pluralism
and legalizing his outlawed trade
federation would be taken up in
round-table discussions promised by
the government in the near future,
according to a statement read by an
aide, Piotr Konopka.
Walesa said he raised the impor
tance of Solidarity in his three-hour
meeting with Poland’s interior min
ister, Gen. Gzeslaw Kiszczak — his
first with government leaders in six
years.
“The participants in the dis
cussion recognize that all affairs re
lated to trade union movement
would be discussed by the round-ta
ble,” Walesa said.
“I propose therefore that we sus
pend the current strikes,” Walesa’s
statement said. “I accepted further
talks with central authorities and
turn to the strike committes for the
actual ending of the negotiation of
other postulates and the suspension
of the strikes.”
After giving the Walesa
statement, Konopka added: “I hope
that it will appear as a historical
day.”
■If