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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 2, 2000)
Page 8B * College Station has a fun, festive, and genuinely unique restaurant* 102 Church Ave. College Station, TX 77840 (979) 691-TACO (8226) *one block north of University Drive on the corner of Wellborn Road and Church Ave., across from Cafe Eccell Happy Hour daily 3-7 EARN 300% ON YOUR INVESTMENT orks! .. .eno Buy 48 Packets for $1 each Sell 48 Packets for $3 each Call 1-800-470-2314 or visit www.antihangover.com to become a distributor Thursday, Novemta: THE BATTALION Pickin’ pecans WEST t)v. Geoi wvjje was ai Harly Hder the n|t proud Confin : medni |y, the din a h STUART VILLANUEVA THE Be irs ago, Andy Sherrod of Caldwell grades pecans at a pecan farm outside Caldwell. Each pecan must be hand-inspected for quality. In a given day, 8,000 to 10,000 pounds of pecans are inspected. ionally |it night The Se rted I |rt prep aine. Bi Cause of plane crash sougw time, s ident ■ced by -Sugge played Obstruction on runway and wind cited as possible faa a w, Bus resting! lys befc TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Fami lies of Singapore Airlines crash vic tims flew to Taiwan to retrieve their loved ones’ bodies Wednesday as officials worked to figure out what caused the plane to burst into flames during takeoff, killing 79 people — at least 23 of them Americans. Survivors have said they felt Flight SQ006 hit something as the plane barreled down the runway. But as.emergency workers pulled bodies from the charred, blue-and- tan wreckage Wednesday, early speculation also pointed to wind as a possible factor in the Boeing 747- 400’s accident: At the time of take off, the airport was being lashed by the swirling gusts and torrential rains of an approaching typhoon. Some relatives of those who died have blamed the pilot, Capt. C.K. Foong. On Wednesday, one woman pounded the counter at a Singapore Airlines ticket counter in Taipei and shouted at the company’s employ ees, “How could you take off in this weather?” But the airline — which had not had a major accident in 28 years of op eration — defended Foong’s decision. “Conditions were well within safe operational limits,” company spokesman Rick Clements told re porters in Singapore. He noted that a flight by Taiwan’s China Airlines took off just 15 minutes before Sin gapore Airlines’ takeoff. “Conditions were well within safe operational limits m , — Rick Clements Singapore Airlines spokesman Taiwanese aviation official Billy K.C. Chang said Tuesday night’s visibility levels of 1,650-1,980 feet at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport exceeded the minimum re quirement of 660 feet needed for takeoff. Measuring safe wind speeds is more complicated, but the gusty winds were not excessive, he said. In general, control towersinl wan monitor wind speed a lion, visibility, air traffic andl factors before authorizing tafeL. especially during storms sudu« usee ll phoons. It is then up to the p;W!’ u ! 1 u decide whether to go ahead \ 'fi 101 K ' : takeoff or to abort it if unew^' s ani problems develop on the run«;® 01 ^ S P ( As investigators probed anil# ^ as tims’ loved ones hurled accusaikf 60 ?^' amid their tears, medicalwh tried to identify the bodies,■! which were badly burned Most of the corpses in body bags in an the airport. Lined up in the 70 or so bodies were caskets of honey pine anddarM ry wood. DNA tests wereexpcipTanging to be completed Thursday. Hexas go In addition to the 79 people'*1 Aides died in the accident, 39 werek 1 'near his talized and 61 suffered minorilaine, s juries or escaped unhurt, Gangsfar with Forty-seven of those aboard liring tf Americans. Within hours, their relatives were rushing Angeles International Airpor ing for flights to Taiwan. uch in ith pec Chri: ore a olutely Bush’ jetion af [own the