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6-Bennington Banner, Thursday, April 3, 1969Faulty Radio BeaconAsCause of Lebanon PlaneCrash• BOSTON (UPI) — A malfunctioning radio beacon caused two Northeast Airlines pilots to begin their Instrument landing approaches to Lebanon, N.H.,Airport three miles sooner than they should have, a federal board of Inquiry was told Wednesday.The beacon, which is still in operation, was used as a guide by Northeast flight 946 which crashed on an Instrument approach to the airport last Oct.MAIN ST. NORTH ADAMSEASTER GIFTSby Russell StoverBaskets Filled withEASTERGOODIESCream Eggs • Marshmallow Eggs Chocolate BunniesWorld'sLARGESTBUILDINGMATERIALSUPPLIERWICKESCANDY DEPT.MAIN FLOOR194 North St.—Bennington442-3169FRIDAY’S SPECIALSFRESH FILLET of HADDOCKIncludes Tartar Sauce French Fries, Rolls and ButterALL YOU CAN EATFRIED BALTIMORE COUNTOYSTERSTartar Sauce Coif* 8law — FrertcFrifts — Rolla andhH utterS7 25NEW YORK STRIPSIRLOINOnion Rings Potato Green Salad$4 50SRRSFT- «.w* i .uFIfr_u: 'HERITAGE HOUSERESTAURANT»4t218 North Bennington Road 442*9586Now Under New ManagementWATCH FOR WEEKEND SPECIALS25. Thirty-two persons were killed and 10 survived in the crashof the prop-jet Fairchild Hiller227.Capt. Richard Preston suggested to the National Transportation Safety Board, which opened its second day of hearings into the crash, if his copilot had not seen his plane skimming over the trees in a 1961 incident the DC6 also would have plunged into the hilly terrain.Instruments aboard Preston's plane Indicated he was above the radio signal and thus began his normal descent to the runway 4.5 miles distant. However, he said, his plane still was three miles from the beacon when the instruments indicated he wasabove it.“Jesus, we're very close to the trees, Preston testified his co-pllot told him. He said thetrees loomed up under breakingclouds.Preston said he immediately pulled up. “Fortunately, the breaking weather saved us. If not, there would have been reason for this board seven yearsago,” the pilot said.Preston’s testimony corroborated that of other pilots who testified previously there were incorrect instrument readings from the same radio beacon.Capt. A. A. Bedley told the three member panel he experienced much the same difficulty as did Preston last Oct. 27, two days after the crash, as he approached the airport in a plane similar to the Fairchild Heller.He said his supporting instruments in the cockpit indicated his plane was directly over the beacon but his primary instrument showed he received no definite station passage.A board spokesman said the instrument fluctuations never had been reported clearly by pilots before the crash But now we’re finding out a lot.Investigators checked the signal after the last crash and found it to be in good condition. The board is considering a suggestion that mineral deposits in the hill under the radio beacon may be at the root of the difficulty.Twenty-eight witnesses were slated to appear before the board this week.Joseph A. LaPalma Jr., a pilot for Trans - East Airlines, described one of the difficulties as “dangerous. That was last Oct. 20, only five days before the Northeast plane, a Fairchiid-HUler FB 227, slammed Into Moose Mountain In fog anddrizzle.LaPalma also Monday told the panel of experts from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) he had problemswith the radio equipment at the Lebanon airport on Oct. 21 and Oct. rr.The difficulties were describedas deviant signals from the VOR system which persisted for as Ions as 20 seconds while making a final approach.Lebanon flight Instructor Sumner Atherton Jr. testified he had been flying into the airport for 20 years and found difficulty with the VOR system chi the night of the crash-when he was asked to fly over Moose Mountain to locate the Northeast pla ne.Jerome E. Blrney, a pilot for Northeast Airlines, said VOR malfunctions last June 10 caused him to make a “missed approach to the airport.VOR, a very high frequency directional radio range homing system, was the only navigational aid authorized for making an instrument approach for landings at the Lebanon airport.The pilots were among nine persons testifying before the panel, which is trying to determine what caused the crash of the Northeast plane into the foggy mounta intop at dusk. They were questioned by members of the panel and representatives of Northeast Airlines, the Airlines Pilots Association, the Federal Aviation Authority and the Wilcox Electric Co^ makers of the VOR system.Use of the VOR system for landing approaches at Lebanon has been suspended pending the results of the Investigation.Vrller in the day, two survivors of the crash told the panel the impact of the crash was so slight, they thought they had touched down on the runway.Both Robert Y. Kimball, 44, assistant dean of the Amos Tuck Business School at Dartmouth College, and stewardess Betty Jo Frail, 21, of Boston, told the hearing there was hardly a jolt in the crash.Foe Attacks Two OutpostsSAIGON (UPI)—-Viet Congand North Vietnamese troops attacked two allied outposts cm corridors to Saigon today and shelled U.S. Army headquarters on the capital’s northern doorstep, military spokesmen said.The Intensity of nationwide mortar and rocket barrages into cities and military camps fell off, according to preliminaryreports. Ten salvos were reported—the fewest overnight shellings In two weeks.South Vietnamese paratroopers guarding the two outposts that came under attack in Tay Ninh Province along the Cambodian border reported turning back both assaults, killing at least 10 guerrillas.Behind steady mortar bombardments, the Reds swarmed out of the jungle against the two camps, each manned by a 600-man South Vietnamese battalion near Tay Ninh City 50 miles northwest of Saigon.At one camp 11 miles southwest of Tay Ninh City, U.S. dive bombers and artillery bombarded the charging Communists and blunted the attack, killing 10 Reds. South Vietnamese losses were one killed, 13wounded. 1In the second attack, nine miles southeast of Taq Ninh, there were no reports of either Communist or South Vietnamese losses.American B52 bombers ranged over Tay Ninh Province during the night and dropped more than 500,000 pounds of bombs onto Infiltration routesleading through the jungled province from Cambodia toward Saigon.One of the bombardments was a 20-round rocket salvo into the sprawling U.S. Army headquarters for Vietnam at Long Blnh, 18 miles northeast of Saigon. Military sources there said the attack killed two Americans and wounded two others.South of the capital In the Mekong Delta ricebowl, Viet Cong soldiers hiding in ambush opened up with antitank rocketsand small arms fire on a convoy of U.S. riverboats carrying troopers of the U.S. 9th Infantry Division.Military spokesmen said the attack killed one American and wounded 13 Wednesday. Returning the fire, the U.S. boats killed one of the ambushers.
Newspaper Details
Bennington Banner
Bennington, Vermont, US
Thu, Apr 03, 1969
Page 6
Full Page
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USA 30 Jan 2021
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