Investigators Sift Through Golfer's Jet Wreckage

South Dakota Gov. Bill Janklow, center, inspects the scene of a Learjet crash Monday that killed golfer Payne Stewart and four others. (Reuters)

MINA, S.D., Oct. 26 – Federal safety officials this morning began sifting through the wreckage of the Learjet that crashed after carrying champion golfer Payne Stewart and five others on a ghostly four-hour flight with all onboard apparently dead from suspected depressurization of the cabin.

There was little left of the executive jet when six investigators of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) went to the remote pasture near Mina, in northeast South Dakota, except for a crater about the size of a pickup truck filled with tangled metal. Smaller bits of the aircraft were scattered over an area about half the size of a football field.

Robert Francis, vice chairman of the NTSB, said that while initial evidence pointed to some sort of explosive decompression, there would be no quick conclusion as to the cause of the crash because there could be other explanations.

There was no flight recorder – or "black box" common to commercial jetliners – and that a cockpit voice recorder that might provide clues to what happened on the aircraft might prove to be of little use, Francis said. The recorder is designed to over-record every half hour, meaning that the pilots last words to each other probably were effectively erased at least eight times during the doomed flight.

Francis added that because the wreckage was "very concentrated in the primary impact area," finding clues to the cause of the apparent decompression may prove to be difficult. But NTSB investigators said the possibility of an explosive decompression remains high.

Francis said such aircraft have seals on doors, windows and "lots of places where there are openings to outside pressure. . . . So, these are the kinds of things we'll be looking at."

The Learjet took off from Orlando on Monday morning with a flight plan that called for an altitude of 39,000. Instead, it inexplicably climbed in a rapid ascent to 41,000 feet and veered off its intended course to Dallas, on a 1,400-mile path across America's heartland. The plane was shadowed by Air Force F-16 fighters whose pilots were helpless to do anything but watch it eventually spiral earthward and crash nose first in the marshy grazing land in rural South Dakota.

NTSB investigators were traveling to Florida to talk with officials of the company that owned the Lear jet, Sunjet Aviation, Francis said. He added that they would interview the Air Force pilots who trailed the plane on part of its uncontrolled flight.

Sunjet's President, James Watkins, said in a statement today that the firm will cooperate with the NTSB in investigating why a "fully certified and maintained aircraft . . . crashed in the manner we understand occurred."

One of the F-16 pilots, Capt. Chris Hamilton, said that as he pulled alongside Stewart's chartered Lear, he did not see any evidence of external damage. But he said the windows were frosted over – evidence of decompression. He said he could not see inside the aircraft as he flew alongside.

Also killed were Stewart's agents, Robert Fraley and Van Ardan, and the two pilots, Michael Kling, 43, and Stephanie Bellegarrigue, 27. The identity of the sixth person on board was unconfirmed, but the Associated Press quoted golfing legend Jack Nicklaus as saying he feared one of his golf course designers, Bruce Borland, 40, also died.

© 1999 The Washington Post Company

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