Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 15, 1994 TAG: 9409150081
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Stressing that the inquiry is in its early stages, a senior government investigator said Wednesday that officials are leaning strongly toward the suicide scenario. But he and other government officials said they probably never will know for sure why the Maryland trucker made the fateful flight.
Investigators have said they do not believe Corder intended to kill President Clinton.
The senior investigator, noting Corder's history of depression and alcohol and drug abuse, summed up the early reading of the crash as, ``a pretty pathetic thing - a final act of desperation.'' He spoke on condition of anonymity.
The investigation continued as signs of the tragedy were disappearing from the White House on Wednesday. Gardeners scraped away a thin layer of dirt where the plane came to rest, preparing it for fresh sod.
In another development, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association said that two air-traffic controllers who could have spotted the tiny Cessna 150 entering the restricted White House airspace were performing ``administrative duties'' - not monitoring their screens - when the crash occurred.
The group said procedures require the controllers to monitor the radar only when aircraft are scheduled to enter their airspace - and none was scheduled when Corder crashed about 2 a.m. Monday. The two controllers ``were conducting their duties as required,'' spokesman Jeff Beddow said.
Investigators confirmed that the controllers are not required to keep constant vigil of Washington's skies after midnight.
The plane first was spotted, seconds before the crash, by a Secret Service agent stationed at a back door of the White House.
A team of federal investigators from at least three agencies is trying to determine how and why Corder stole a plane near Baltimore and came so close to harming the first family.
Evidence is dribbling in: Secret Service Special Agent Carl Meyer said Wednesday that Corder's single-engine aircraft still was running when it slammed into the White House's South Lawn. Witnesses had said it was turned off.
He also said investigators have found no connection between Clinton's appearance Sunday in Aberdeen, Md., and the fact that Corder was raised in the central Maryland town.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB