Pilot Was Getting Play by Play.
The pilot of the American airlines jet that crashed in a thunderstorm was
getting details on the deteriorating weather as he tried to land the plane,
an investigator said Thursday.
Investigators are analyzing the conversation between the tower and the pilot,
information from the plane's flight data recorder and evidence from the wreckage
to try to determine why flight 1420 skidded off the runway at the Little Rock
airport, killing nine people, including the pilot. Investigators say they hope
to interview the co-pilot on Friday.
A storm with hail, lightning and gusts of 75mph hit the area Tuesday night just
minutes before the plane made a bouncy landing and struck a steel walkway and
approach lights at the end of the runway. The plane tore open and caught fire.
"The weather was changing rapidly," said George Black, a spokesman
for the National Transportation Safety Board. "There's even indications
the tower controller was providing sort of a play-by-play wind direction and
velocity sequence of radio transmissions during the approach."
Flight 1420 initially was directed to land from the north because the airport
was reporting southerly winds as the plane neared Little Rock. When the winds
shifted to the northwest, the pilot was ordered to approach from the south instead.
Black did not say specifically what wind speeds the pilot was told about. Safety
officials have said the decision of whether to land rests with the pilot.
A VETERAN PILOT.
The pilot, Richard Buschmann, was a veteran American pilot
with 5,500 hours of flight time in the MD-80 series of aircraft, which includes
the MD-82. his colleagues said Buschmann, who helped supervise 1,800 pilots
in Chicago, had an excellence record and was unlikely to take risks. When the
jet crashed, Buschmann and his crew had been on the job for 13 and 1/2 hours,
having flown from Chicago to Salt Lake City and Dallas before Little Rock. The
Airline's maximum is 14 hours, which the federal limit is 16.
Investigators want to know whether the pilot's decision to land was influenced
by a desire to end the long day and get the plane to its intended airport for
the night to prevent delays the next morning. Passengers said the plane never
seemed to get a grip on the rain-slicked runway.
"I got worried because I knew we should have been slowing down and we weren't."
Dave Ozmun said. "I could tell he was trying to reverse the plane."
Inspectors said that if the plane had not hit the steel structure at the end
of the runway, it could have gone into the Arkansas river. The jet went just
short of the water.
At the crash site, investigators peered into the planes's broken nose, climbed
into an engine that had broken away from the jet and walked through the burned,
severed shell.
Some investigators wore biohazard suits to protect them from blood and spilled
fuel.
They also looked over a grassy field at the end of the runaway where the plane
broke through a metal fence and plowed into steel posts that hold runway approach
lights. The left side of the plane was ripped open.
금일은 최근 미국 Little Rock Arkansas 공항 활주로에서 착륙도중 부서진 아메리칸항공사
여객기 사고에 대한 기사입니다. 내용의 핵심은 기장은 사고기종의 비행시간 5500시간인
숙련 조종사이며 승무원은 착륙직전 시시각각 긴밀한 기상의 변화에 대해 관제탑으로부터
보고를 받고 있었으며 사고당일 13 시간 30분이라는 장거리 비행을 하고 있었다는
것입니다. 그리고 착륙을 결정하는 것은 전적으로 기장이라는 것입니다. 조사의 초점은
숙련된 조종사가 사고의 위험을 충분히 알고 있었음에도 자기의 능력을 과신한 나머지
피곤한 하루의 비행을 쉽사리 끝내기 위한 것이 아니냐는 것에 맞춰지고 있습니다.
* 이 기사를 충분히 독해/소리내어 읽으신후 뉴스를 청취하면 확실히 들리게 될 것입니다.
전기사를 한글 해석해드리지 못하고 요약해드린점 많은 이해바랍니다.
Citing new figures concluding that the Brady law has blocked 400,000 illegal
gun sales, President Bill Clinton on Tuesday challenged Congress to approve
other "common sense measures" to keep firearms out of the hands of
criminals and children.
"The Brady Bill has worked, " Clinton said at a White House rally
to pressure the House of Representatives to approve new gun control measures
when it considers the matter this week. "It has worked so well that
criminals now have to buy their guns ... at gun shows and flea markets."
Clinton cited new figures by the Justice department showing that 400,000
illegal sales had been prevented by the so-called Brady law since it was passed
by Congress in 1993. Two -thirds of those attempted illegal gun sales since
1994 involved purchasers with previous felony convictions or under felony indictment
at the time they sought to buy the weapon or weapons, according to the Justice
Department.
Clinton also said that opponents of tighter gun controls, led by the National
Rifle Association, had argued that the Brady law threatened the right of citizens
to own firearms," and would not be effective in any case.
The Brady Act mandates a five-day waiting period on handguns sales. During
that time, local authorities are required to make a reasonable effort to find
out if the buyer has a felony record, a history of mental illness or drug use
or some other problem that would make the sale illegal.
Clinton claimed during his 1996 reelection campaign that the law had prevented
firearm sales to more than 60,000 criminals in two years, but some law enforcement
officials and gun advocates disputed the figure at the time. The White House
is urging to House to require background checks of weapons purchasers at gun
shows and flea markets and increase the age for purchase of a handgun from 18
to 21.
Meanwhile, Vice President Al Gore's staff was seeking to limit political fallout
from an erroneous statement he made Monday in a speech to the national
Conference of Mayors in New Oreleans.
Gore told more than 300 city leaders during an address Monday in New Orleans
that while adults younger than 21 cannot legally buy alcohol, they can walk
into any gun shop, pawn shop or gun show in America and buy a handgun."
Gore's office later issued a statement saying the vice president had misspoken,
noting
that while young adults may buy handguns at gun shows or from friends and unlicensed
sellers, they may not legally purchase them from federally licensed gun shops
and pawn stores. Opponents on additional restrictions on gun ownership used
Gore's remarks to accuse the administration of being ignorant of current laws
on the books. "They're either horribly uninformed or they're deliberately
deceitful about it," said NRA spokesman Wayne Lapierre. "If they don't
know what the present law is, why should we follow them?
Why should we trust them?"
Gore, the Democratic front-runner for the 2000 presidential nomination,
made the gaffe during a speech to highlight a new government study showing that
people ages 18 through 20 commit 24 percent of all gun murders.
이번 기사는 미국내 몇몇 고등학교에서 발생한 총기난사 사건으로 인해 Clinton
대통령이
의회에 상식적인 총기 규제법안을 만들자는 제안에 대한 이야기입니다. 미국이 자유를
표방하는 민주국가임에 틀림없지만 또한 집단 이익사회라는 점도 간과해서는 안될
것입니다. 총기 규제법안이 제대로 입법되지 않는 것은 총기판매업자들의 끈질긴
로비 때문이라는 것이 이 기사에서 엿볼 수 있습니다.
이런 와중에 2000년 민주당 대통령지명자로 주목받고 있는 앨 고어 부통령은 한 연설회장에서
21세 이하의 성인은 술을 합법적으로 살수 없지만 handgun은 살수 있다는 말을 하였습니다.
그러자 총기소유에 대해 추가적인 법안에 반대하는 사람들은 앨고어 부통령의 발언을
인용하여 현 행정부가 시행되고 있는 법률에 관해서도 제대로 모르고 있으니 우리가
어찌 그들을 따를 수 있을 것인가 하며 신랄하게 공격하였다.
( 요약 번역하였음을
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