Page 6 • Wednesday, June 9, 1999
News
The
Plane’s recorders
silent on spoilers
Communication between pilots questioned
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The
cockpit recording from the Ameri
can Airlines jet that crashed while
landing in a thunderstorm contains
no mention by the pilots of setting
the spoilers that slow a plane
down, a federal investigator said
TUesday.
The finding raises more ques
tions about whether the spoilers
were set to activate on landing, as
co-pilot Michael Origel believes
they were. Previously, investigators
said the flight data recorders indi
cate the spoilers
did not open
when the plane
touched down.
“What I’m re
ally interested in
is the communi
cation between
the two offi
cers,” Greg Fei-
th, lead investi
gator with the
National Trans
portation Safety
Board, said.
“Was there a
miscommunica-
tion? Did they not do something
because someone did not under
stand?” he said.
The NTSB’s George W. Black Jr.
said it is possible Capt. Richard
Buschmann and Origel communicat
ed non-verbally about the spoilers, by
pointing or nodding, for example.
Spoilers are panels on the wings
that pop up to slow the plane down
on landing.
The plane ran off the end of a
wet runway at more than 90 mph.
tore open and caught fire June 1,
killing the captain and eight pas
sengers. More than 80 of the 145
people aboard were injured. Two
people remained in critical condi
tion TUesday.
Investigators are examining
whether mechanical problems, pi
lot error, severe weather or a com
bination of those factors caused the
accident.
Origel, who broke a leg in the
crash, said last week he believes
the spoilers were set by
Buschmann dur
ing the jet’s ap
proach.
However, Black
said TUesday the
recording indi
cates the pilots
went over some
items on the pre
landing check
list, but there was
no mention of the
spoilers.
He would not
say if any other el
ements of the
checklist were not
heard on the tape recording.
Feith said that in a hospital inter
view, Origel claimed he had com
pleted the checklist for landing. In
vestigators want Origel to listen to
the cockpit recording with them to
refresh his memory about the land
ing preparations.
An American Airlines official,
speaking on condition of anonymi
ty, said it is company policy to go
through the items on the checklist
out loud.
"Was there a
miscommunication ?
Did they (pilots)
not do something
because someone
did not under
stand?”
— Greg Feith
Theaters to require
ID for R-rated films
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a
crackdown on kids sneaking into
movies they are not supposed to
see, young people will be required
to show photo IDs proving they
are at least 17 to view R-rated
films at thousands of theaters
across America.
“You shouldn’t have to worry
about your G-rated kids getting into
violent or suggestive R-rated
movies,” President Clinton said
TUesday, announcing new restric
tions imposed by the nation’s largest
group of theater
owners.
“Too often,
children do get
past the ticket
counter unescort
ed and underage,”
he said.
The ID require
ment was the lat- clinton
est in a series of
steps to curb youth violence in the
aftermath of the high school ram
page that left 15 people dead in Lit
tleton, Colo. The restrictions were
a victory for Clinton, who had chal
lenged theater and video store own
ers a month ago to enforce the rat
ing systems on movies they show,
rent and sell. The White House said
it would keep up the pressure on
video stores.
Watchdog groups said the new
requirement will put teeth into the
31-year-old movie rating system
and the R-rating that bans children
under 17 from viewing the films
unless accompanied by a parent or
adult guardian.
“The industry has taken a big
step: enforcement at the box of
fice,” James M. Wall, special con
sultant to the motion picture in
dustry for the National Council of
Churches, said. “Kids have always
managed to sort of slip their way
past box offices. A requirement like
this sets a mood that we are serious
about enforcing the R-rating.”
But some kids were unhappy at
the prospect of being carded.
“I don’t agree with that at all,”
16-year-old Paul Griffith said in the
lobby of a 24-screen theater com
plex in Columbus, Ohio. “But I’ll
probably just sneak in anyway.”
Jimmy Moore, 14, at the same
theater said: “You see worse things
every day out on the street. At least
here it’s fake.”
In Boston, 15-year-old Jamie
Frizzell of Standish, Maine, said, “It
sounds like a stupid idea’’ — en
couraging kids to get fake IDs. An
other critic, 13-year-old Jinuk Lee
of Portland, Ore., said, “How else
will we learn? Most parents don’t
teach us about sex and violence.”
But 12-year-old Aaron Whit
more in Portland said, “I think it’s
right because kids shouldn’t see
those movies unless their parents
want them to.”
The new policy was adopted by
the National Association of Theater
Owners, representing more than
20,000 screens spread across every
state. That’s about two-thirds of all
screens in the nation. The White
House said it would try to get ail
theaters to follow suit.
“We believe that this will go a
long way in carrying out our re
sponsibilities to the parents of
America,” William F. Kartozian, the
association president, said.
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U.S., allies agree to resolutioi
Plan calls for withdrawal of Serb troops, return of Kosovan refuf
COLOGNE, Germany (AP) —
The United States, Russia and six
other nations agreed TUesday on a
draft U.N. resolution to send NATO
peacekeepers to war-ravaged Koso
vo, a pivotal step that could help end
the conflict with Yugoslavia within
days. The Pentagon said there al
ready were signs that Serb troops in
tend to withdraw.
The United States and its allies
found common ground at a meeting
of foreign ministers here.
“We have made a very decisive
step toward peace, ” German Foreign
Minister Joschka Fischer said, hailing
the breakthrough
after two days of
talks during which
Russia dropped its
major objections.
Secretary of
State Madeleine
Albright said Yu
goslav President
Slobodan Milose
vic should direct
his military commanders to agree on
a rapid phased withdrawal of all
40,000 Serb troops from Kosovo.
“Unless he is totally tone deaf he
should be getting the message it’s
time to withdraw,” Albright said af
ter the draft was approved by the
United States, Russia, Britain, Cana
da, France, Germany, Italy and
Japan at a foreign ministers confer
ence here.
After the meeting, Albright flew
to Brussels, Belgium, to brief NATO
Secretary-General Javier Solana.
“We are putting the pieces into
place,” Albright said in a joint news
conference with Solana. “It all de
pends on compliance, verifiable
compliance.”
The text was immediately sent to
the United Nations, where the Secu
rity Council held its first meeting on
the draft. The United States and its
NATO partners are pushing for quick
adoption but China is questioning
key points.
Stalled military talks in Macedo
nia resumed TUesday night.
British Foreign Secretary Robin
Cook said a Serb withdrawal and a
suspension of the bombing could
occur “in the next few days.” But he
stressed the sequence must begin
with Yugoslav military commanders
resuming their talks with NATO of
ficers and agreeing to a phased with
drawal.
After the Serb troops quit Koso
vo, and their departure is verified as
part of a wholesale pullout, the
bombing would be suspended and
the U.N. resolution put to a vote in
the Security Council, Cook said.
In Washington, President Clinton
said implementation was the key to
ending the 11-week conflict.
“A verifiable withdrawal of Serb
forces will allow us to suspend the
bombing and go forward with the
(peace) plan,” the president said.
“NATO is determined to bring the
Kosovars home. ”
U.S. intelligence has detected
signs that Serb forces in Kosovo are
making preparations to withdraw,
although no troops have begun
moving or assembling for a pullout.
Pentagon spokesperson Kenneth Ba
con told reporters.
Among the signs is the mobiliza
tion of Serb vehicles in Kosovo that
would be used to transport soldiers
out. Bacon said.
NATO struck targets near Bel
grade on Tliesday, thereby intensify
ing its attacks to force Milosevic to
order a retreat.
Yugoslavia’s state-run Tanjug
news agency, meanwhile, reported
progress at low-level talks between
the NATO and the Serb-led Yugoslav
military “on the mode of arrival and
deployment of the international se
curity forces in Kosovo.”
Russian Foreign Minister Igor
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I Fragile plan for peace in Koso
an'riensffi miTOmw
world plus Russia, unanimously agreed on a U.N. resolutior:
authorizes a peacekeeping force with NATO at the core fo «
tute, v
late i
at ion c
Assoc
Ileade
mtors.
I Katl
The draft U.N. peace resolution...
► Calls for the withdrawal of all
Yugoslav military police and
paramiltary forces from Kosovo.
► Insures the safe return of
860,000 Kosovo refugees to
their homes.
► Demands full cooperation
with the U.N. war crimes
tribunal, by all parties.
► Mandates the demilitarization
of the Kosovo Liberation Army
and otherethnic Albanian rebels
by the international force.
► Establishes an interre;
security presence, wihst:H
NATO participation, tosectf
return of refugees, prated
humanitarian aid efforts
renewed hostilities.
► Sets up an interim govr
in Kosovo to providesubst;'
autonomy for the province!'
the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, which is made.:
the republics of Serbiaand
Montenegro and the pro/ii®
Vojvodina and Kosovo, pen:
final settlement of theconf;
wards,
coordi
Texas
Leadei
Medici
tended
b\ the
Leader
sity of
which
est in c
ership
I She
confen
Leach,
Sheppc
tlte, v\
goest
con fen
Ivanov said his government had
made concessions in drafting the res
olution — Moscow had resisted a
dominant role in peacekeeping for
NATO — but he said “the goal is to
bring an end to the war.”
“If we can achieve that, as quick
ly as possible, we can be satisfied
with this resolution,” he said.
At the G-8 foreign ministers’
meeting, Ivanov pledged Russia’s
support for the resolution but later
suggested NATO must stop bombing
before final U.N. approval. Ivanov
said participation of Russian peace
keepers still had to be negotiated.
Clinton, for the second straight
“We
day, telephoned RussianPi ass , H ,
Boris Yeltsin to try to pi b r j n „j'
peace plan forward. Clint cat() 'j’ s
dispatched his envoy, Depi
retary of State Strobe Tail
Moscow to work out thet ,
Russian participation in al |
peacekeeping force.
Yeltsin “expressed
with the draft” resolutir
Kremlin press service
though he, too, insisted ot
mediate bombing halt.Tt
sticking point was Russia
tance to having NATOind dents
the peacekeeping force an new n
ing the backbone of theopf sj n
[iiier f.
doubh
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Del
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