Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 5, 1991 TAG: 9104050364
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA LENGTH: Medium
Burning wreckage fell on the grounds of an elementary school in nearby Merion Township; two of the dead were children playing outside at noon recess.
All three people on the senator's plane and the two pilots on the helicopter also died in the collision. At least two other children, the school custodian and an unknown number of other bystanders were injured, the local authorities said. One boy was burned critically.
The collision came after the senator's plane reported a problem with its landing gear and the helicopter offered to fly nearby to see whether the gear was down for a landing, according to preliminary reports from aviation officials in Washington.
Heinz, a member of the wealthy family that founded H.J. Heinz Co., a food products company with its headquarters in Pittsburgh, was a 52-year-old moderate Republican with a secure grip on the Senate seat he first won in 1976.
President Bush said the senator's "steadfast efforts to protect Social Security and health care benefits for the elderly, his work to insure both free and fair trade with our trading partners, and his commitment to protecting the environment have touched the lives of all Americans."
Under state law, Gov. William Casey, a Democrat, may name an interim successor to fill Heinz's Senate seat until a special election is held in November, when voters will choose between nominees selected by the Democratic and Republican state committees to serve out the remainder of the term. The term expires on Jan. 1, 1995.
Current and former staff members, sobbing or holding back tears, gathered in the senator's Washington offices to console one another.
At Rosemont Farm, the Heinz family estate near Pittsburgh, workers who had been landscaping the property lowered the flag to half staff.
As news of the accident spread, parents rushed to the Merion Elementary School in Lower Merion Township to seek out their children, and the school canceled classes for the rest of Thursday and today. Teachers will spend the day consulting with therapists and trauma experts.
Visibly shaken youngsters, held closely by their parents, told of seeing the two aircraft crash as they played outside.
"One went everywhere, and a piece fell in the boys' basketball game, and one blew up in the sky," said Joanna Rosengard, 7, as she buried her head in her father's shoulder. "I thought it was a missile, like on TV, and I thought it was coming here."
Her mother, Andrea Kramer, said Joanna told her that many of the children associated the crash with television coverage of the Persian Gulf War.
The senator, traveling in the holiday legislative recess, was on his way to a town meeting in Media, Pa., and to other appointments in the Philadelphia area.
Heinz was a licensed pilot but was qualified to fly only single-engine planes. There were two hired pilots, Richard Shreck and Trond Stegen, aboard the senator's plane.
The plane, a two-engine Piper Aerostar, reported difficulty with its landing gear and the helicopter flew nearby to help assess the problem, according to preliminary information provided by aviation officials in Washington.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB