ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 23, 1996 TAG: 9606240122
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: 5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: COX NEWS SERVICE
Q: Has a supersonic passenger plane ever crashed?
A: No crashes involving passengers have been reported. But on June 3, 1973, a Soviet TU144 supersonic transport exploded during a demonstration flight at Le Bourget airport near Paris, killing the six crew members and seven residents of the village of Goussainville. The crash, witnessed by 300,000 spectators at the air show, effectively ended Soviet hopes for successful passenger service using supersonic aircraft. The only other passenger SST is the Concorde, operated by British Airways and Air France. No Concorde is known to have crashed, but they have experienced occasional problems. On Feb. 10, 1990, Air France 001 was forced to fly for 90 minutes at subsonic speeds and was given priority landing at New York's JFK Airport because it was low on fuel.
Q: How many people does it take to initiate a class-action lawsuit?
A: There's no cutoff number for a class-action suit. Plaintiffs seek class-action status for their complaint, but a judge has to certify the case as a class-action suit. A couple of deciding factors are the number of plaintiffs and the commonality of the grounds on which they're filing.
Q: At least nine people have been slain on the Appalachian Trail in the past two decades. How many cases were solved? How many of the nine victims were women?
A: With the exception of the two most recent ones, all the murders have been solved, according to the Appalachian Trail Conference in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., the organization that maintains and manages the trail. Of the nine people killed on or near the trail since 1974, all but three died in double slayings. Six victims were female.
Q: What kind of new coin is being introduced in Canada?
A: It's a one-cent coin. The Royal Canadian Mint is producing a new coin the same color, size and weight of the previous one, but it's cheaper to make. The old one, which cost 1.4 cents to produce, had 12 edges as an aid to the visually challenged. The new one, which costs 0.9 cent to produce, won't have edges because it's plated, and it's difficult to have edges on a plated coin. Naturally, the change is all about money: By significantly reducing the copper component in the new coin, the Royal Canadian Mint expects to save $3.4 million a year.
Q: What are the requirements to join the Friendship Force? How do I apply?
A: There's no requirement other than payment of an annual $18 fee. For information about the Friendship Force, which describes itself as ``a private, nonprofit organization sponsoring programs to provide opportunities for building bridges of friendship across cultural and national boundaries.'' Information: 800-554-6715.
Q: News reports say Sgt. William Kreutzer Jr., who was sentenced to die for a sniper attack on his fellow soldiers last October, would be the first person executed by the Army in 35 years. Who was the last? What were the circumstances?
A: The last Army execution took place April 13, 1961, at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gary Milner said John A. Bennett was executed after his conviction in the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old girl in Austria. Bennett was executed by hanging.
Q. A veteran interviewed on the radio referred to a place in Vietnam he called ``Dixie Station.'' I've never heard of that. What is or was it?
A. You won't find it on any map. Dixie Station was the place name for the U.S. 7th Fleet's staging area in the South China Sea. In 1965-66, Task Force 77, the carrier strike group in the 7th Fleet, used Dixie Station as the reference point for its operations. It was 11 degrees north, 110 degrees east, off the coast of Cam Ranh Bay.
Q. President Clinton's plane, Air Force One, very recently encountered unexpected turbulence that tossed passengers around. What is the history of Air Force One?
A. First, Air Force One is not just one particular plane. It's the name given to any of several aircraft the president might be aboard. He has a small fleet at his disposal. The one used most often is a Boeing 747-200B. The first official presidential aircraft, used by Franklin Roosevelt for one trip in 1945, was a U.S. Air Corps Douglas C-54 Skymaster cargo plane. President Harry Truman often flew in that plane, nicknamed Sacred Cow by reporters. In 1947, the official presidential plane was upgraded to a Douglas Aircraft DC-6 passenger liner named the Independence, after Truman's home town in Missouri. The plane was relatively sophisticated, with weather radar and a telephone system allowing the president to stay in touch with Washington. President Dwight Eisenhower's first official plane was a Lockheed Constellation 749, named Columbine II. In 1954 it was replaced by Columbine III, a Lockheed 1049C Super Constellation. In 1962, President John Kennedy ushered in the jet age. He had been assigned a propeller-driver Douglas Viscout VC-118A by the Air Force, but he preferred a new and much faster Boeing 707. In 1989, the 707s were replaced by 747s.
Q. What's the difference between Coca-Cola and Coca-Cola Enterprises?
A. Coca-Cola spokeswoman Kerry Traubert explains: The Coca-Cola Co. creates and sells concentrate and syrups to Coca- Cola bottlers who, in turn, make the soft drinks locally. Coca-Cola Enterprises is the largest soft drink bottler of Coca-Cola and the largest soft-drink bottler in the world. Coca-Cola Co. owns about 44 percent of the outstanding common stock of Coca-Cola Enterprises, Traubert said.
Q. I want to paint my mailbox to look like an American flag. Will the Postal Service object?
A. What's important is access to the mailbox for delivery, basically the height of the mailbox's opening from the street. ``As long as those regulations are met, we don't have a problem with the color, design and paint job on a mailbox,'' said Postal Service spokeswoman Carol Larson. .
Q. What is the condition of the policeman who began to speak a few months ago after several years in a coma after a shooting?
A: The officer, Gary Dockery, is in stable condition and his vital signs are good. He has been a resident of Alexian Village of Tennessee, a continuing care retirement community in Signal Mountain, a Chattanooga suburb, since March 19. In September 1988, Dockery was shot in the forehead after answering a prank call in Walden, a mountain town near Chattanooga. The brain-damaged police officer had been in what his doctors called a ``locked-in'' state, able to respond to questions with only grunts, nods or blinking his eyes, when he suddenly began to speak in February. Alexian Village spokeswoman Susan Showalter said Dockery's speech remains sparse and intermittent, usually limited to ``yes'' or ``no'' answers to questions. He receives physical and speech therapy daily as well as breathing-function treatments. He cannot receive visitors, but volunteers read cards of greeting to him and ``he appears to appreciate them,'' Showalter said. Cards can be sent to Gary Dockery, Alexian Village of Tennessee, 100 James Blvd., Signal Mountain, Tenn. 37377.
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