Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 1, 1994 TAG: 9411010103
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From The Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: ROSELAWN, IND. LENGTH: Medium
Flight 4184 from Indianapolis to Chicago went down 30 miles south of Gary about 5 p.m. EST, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The heavy rain forced authorities to quickly call off the search of the area until today.
``Our preliminary indication is that we do not see survivors on the scene,'' said Indiana State Police Maj. John Till.
The plane's flight schedule called for it to leave Indianapolis and arrive at Chicago's O'Hare Airport at 4:15 p.m. It encountered a traffic delay, said American Eagle spokesman Patrick Henry, and had been circling in a holding pattern, waiting to begin its descent.
At 5 p.m., as the airplane descended from 10,000 feet to 8,000, it disappeared from radar screens at O'Hare, said Don Zochert of the FAA.
On radio station WBBM, a spokesman for Accu-Weather said there was a severe wind shear at 9,000 feet where the plane crashed. Winds were gusting to 49 mph in Gary, the closest reporting station, the National Weather Service said.
All 64 passenger seats on the plane were filled. Four crew members also were aboard.
American Eagle would not speculate on the cause of the crash, airline spokeswoman Debbie Weathers said.
``Debris was so scattered, you really couldn't tell if there was an airplane out there,'' said Michael Schwanke, a reporter with radio station WLQI in Rensselaer, Ind.
``People around the area were telling me that there was just nothing left,'' he said after visiting the site.
People at the scene said there was driving rain at the time of the crash and that it was too dark to see much.
Bob Stone, a hunter, said he heard the plane's engines just before the crash.
``I could hear a motor winding out and it sounded like thunder and then there was a crash and I didn't hear anything else,'' Stone said.
Kathy Philpot, a spokeswoman for the Lake County coroner's office, said workers were told to call off the search for bodies and return to the scene today.
``We've had torrential rains all day, and right now there's such a downpour. They're almost unable to go out - we're talking open farm country,'' said Jasper County Sheriff Steve Reames.
The plane was an American Eagle Super ATR, a high-wing, twin-engine propjet, Weathers said.
It was the second major plane crash in seven weeks. A USAir jet crashed Sept. 8 on approach to Pittsburgh, killing all 132 aboard.
American Eagle commuter planes have been involved in at least two other fatal crashes in seven years.
Five people were killed when an American Eagle plane crashed June 7, 1992, in a swamp at Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, during a heavy rainstorm.
American Eagle Flight 3378 crashed Feb. 19, 1988, in a wooded area about a mile from the runway after departing in dense fog from the Raleigh-Durham, N.C., airport bound for Richmond, Va., killing all 12 people aboard.
Four commuter airlines operate under the name American Eagle. The carriers are sisters of American Airlines and have the same corporate parent, Fort Worth, Texas-based AMR Corp.
The four Eagle carriers are Executive Airlines, Flagship Airlines, Simmons Airlines and Wings West. The fleet has 279 twin-engine, turboprop aircraft, each carrying 19 to 64 passengers.
Persons wishing to receive information about passengers may contact American Eagle at the following toll-free number: 800-433-7300.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB