Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 6, 1991 TAG: 9104060335
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BRUNSWICK, GA. LENGTH: Medium
The twin-engine turboprop plane was en route from Atlanta to Brunswick when it crashed on its approach to Glynco Jetport, said Lee Duncan, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman.
Tower, a Texas Republican, served four terms in the Senate.
The Atlantic Southeast Airlines plane - identified by the FAA as an Embraer 120 - crashed shortly before 3 p.m. in a wooded area about three miles from the airport near this southeastern Georgia city. The sky was clear and visibility was about seven miles when Flight 2311 went down, authorities said.
The plane crashed into a thicket of trees, narrowly missing a mobile home park about a mile away. Rescuers had to bulldoze a 150-yard path to reach the site.
By the time firefighters could run hoses off the nearest road and extinguish the fire, little was left of the airplane.
Duncan and ASA Senior Vice President John Beiser said 20 passengers and three crew members were on board. Beiser wouldn't release their names.
Beiser, whose airline is affiliated with Delta Air Lines, said officials had no indication from the pilot that the flight was in trouble.
Astronaut Manley Lanier "Sonny" Carter Jr. was on the flight, said his wife, Dana, in suburban Houston. Carter, 43, flew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery on a five-day mission for the Pentagon in November 1989.
Tower and his 35-year-old daughter, Marian, were heading to a dinner in his honor at the Sea Island resort community. Tower had planned a weekend at the resort, and had scheduled several media interviews about his new book, "Consequences, A Personal and Political Memoir," which was published in January.
Tower became chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. In that post in the early 1980s, he championed President Reagan's huge military buildup.
In 1987 he headed the commission that investigated and criticized Reagan's handling of the Iran-Contra affair.
President Bush nominated him as defense secretary, but the Senate rejected him 53-47, the first time in 30 years a president had been denied a Cabinet choice.
Tower had a stormy personal life. His second marriage ended in a messy 1987 divorce, during which his wife, Lilla, alleged he had committed "marital misconduct" and carried on affairs during their 10-year marriage.
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