Post-Gazette Staff Writers
Investigators this afternoon discovered the "black box" containing
flight data recordings from United Flight 93 at the crash site in rural
Somerset County.
Pittsburgh FBI spokesman Bill Crowley said the flight data recorder was
found about 4:50 p.m. in the main crater at the crash site, located near
Shanksville. Crowley said he didn't know whether the recorder was
operable, or whether officials would be able to gather information from
it.
Finding the flight data recorder had been the focus of investigators as
they widened their search area today following the discoveries of more
debris, including what appeared to be human remains, miles from the point
of impact at a reclaimed coal mine.
Residents and workers at businesses outside Shanksville, Somerset
County, reported discovering clothing, books, papers and what appeared to
be human remains. Some residents said they collected bags-full of items to
be turned over to investigators. Others reported what appeared to be crash
debris floating in Indian Lake, nearly six miles from the immediate crash
scene.
Workers at Indian Lake Marina said that they saw a cloud of
confetti-like debris descend on the lake and nearby farms minutes after
hearing the explosion that signaled the crash at 10:06 a.m. Tuesday.
Somerset County Coroner Wallace Miller said that, at the same time, the
first human remains have been removed from the site in a prelude to the
somber challenge of identifying the 45 victims of the crash.
While the investigation at the crime scene began to settle into a grim
routine, the emergency personnel were also preparing for the visits of
families of the victims.
The first of those visits to the crash scene could occur as early as
this afternoon.
"We're prepared to do whatever we can to help them with the grieving
process," said Special Agent Bill Crowley of the FBI's Pittsburgh office.
"The other priority is the black box," Crowley said. "We're confident
that we are going to keep looking for it and we will account for it."
Whether that search will yield usable information was one of the key
questions hanging over this stage of the investigation. If it does, it
could provide insight into what may have been a terrifying struggle
between hijackers and passengers that kept the Boeing 757 from hitting an
intended target in a populated area.
Cell phone calls from passengers have fueled the speculation about such
a scenario, along with the fact that this was the only one of the four
planes that crashed Tuesday that did not hit a populated, high-profile
target.
While some officials were reportedly pessimistic about the chances of
finding the flight recorders intact, Crowley said there was no way to
determine their conditions until they were located.
Crowley emphasized that the still elusive data might show "what
everyone desperately wants to know: What was happening on that plane."
He also said the National Transportation Safety Board has told
investigators that the plane, which began its flight in Newark, N.J., was
flying east when it crashed but could provide no other information about
its path or intended target.
In a morning briefing, state Police Major Lyle Szupinka confirmed that
debris from the plane had turned up in relatively far-flung sites,
including the residential area of Indian Lake. Investigators appealed to
any residents who had come across such debris, in the surrounding
countryside or even in their yards, to contact them, emphasizing that even
the smallest remnants could prove to be important clues.
"This is not a finite [crime] scene," said Crowley. "As things are
discovered, it expands and contracts."
In response to a question on recurring rumors that the plane might have
been shot down, Crowley said that at this stage of the investigation, no
possibility was being ruled out. He stressed, however, that no evidence
had surfaced to support that theory.
Rep. John Murtha, D-Johnstown, noted and discounted the same
speculation here Tuesday, saying that Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfield had assured him that the government had not shot down the
hijacked plane to prevent it from hitting a potential target.
Online map:
Crash of United Flight 93
Copyright ©
1997-2005 PG Publishing. All rights reserved.