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U.S. NEWS Saturday 31 december 2016

Business exec was pilot of plane that vanished with 6 aboard

MARK GILLISPIE trip from Columbus earlier ness, Mullen said. Weather
Associated Press in the day, is registered to prevented smaller Coast
CLEVELAND (AP) — The a limited liability company Guard boats in the Cleve-
chief executive of a bever- under the same Columbus land area from launching.
age distribution company address as Superior Bev- A U.S. Coast Guard heli-
was piloting a plane carry- erage. Messages seeking copter and a Royal Cana-
ing his wife, two sons and comment were left Friday dian Air Force plane were
two other people when it for a Superior Beverage used along with a Coast
quickly lost altitude after representative. Guard ship from Detroit be-
takeoff from Cleveland’s Authorities have detected gan the search overnight
lakeshore airport and van- “faint hints” but no strong that has continued in the
ished from radar, accord- pulse from an emergen- daylight hours Friday.
ing to his family and a flight- cy locating transmitter, a It would have been the pi-
tracking service Friday. beacon that could help lot’s responsibility to deter-
The parents of Superior Bev- Capt. Michael Mullen of the U.S. Coast Guard answers ques- find the plane, Mullen said. mine whether it was safe to
erage Company executive tions during a news conference at Burke Lakefront Airport, Fri- Searchers have found no fly, Mullen said.
John T. Fleming confirmed day, Dec. 30, 2016, in Cleveland. Associated Press sign of debris. The Federal Aviation Ad-
he was piloting the Colum- “We’re very hopeful. We ministration said the Cess-
bus-bound plane when it occupants could be found said there were no distress will be very hopeful up until na Citation 525 plane left
disappeared late Thursday alive, and were in search- signals from the pilot. the point that we have to Burke at 10:50 p.m., and
about 2 miles over Lake and-rescue mode, not re- The aircraft took off west- turn the search off and we the Coast Guard said it was
Erie. covery mode, as they plied ward from Burke, then switch over to assisting with notified about the missing
Fleming’s father said the waters about 50 feet deep, turned north across the recovery,” Mullen said at plane by air traffic control
other five people on the said Capt. Michael Mullen, lake, according to the news conference Friday. at Burke about 30 minutes
plane were Fleming’s wife, the chief of response for the tracking service flightra- But when asked about the later. Investigators from the
two teenage sons, a neigh- Ninth Coast Guard District. dar24.com. The departure possibility of the two-engine FAA and National Trans-
bor and the neighbor’s Tracking service FlightA- procedure at Burke could jet landing safely on Lake portation Safety Board
daughter. John W. Fleming ware logged only three lo- take an aircraft north over Erie, Mullen said, “Aircraft were expected to arrive in
also described his son as cation pings for the plane the lake before turning are not designed to float, Cleveland on Friday.
“an experienced pilot.” after takeoff from Burke south toward a destination, especially in 12-foot seas.” The aircraft was headed to
Crews combing Lake Erie Lakefront Airport, and the Mullen said. The search overnight was Ohio State University Airport
for the plane on Friday re- last one indicated rapid al- The plane, which had made difficult by snow northwest of downtown
mained hopeful that the titude loss. Authorities have made the roughly half-hour squalls, high seas and dark- Columbus.
Colorado lift shut down as fatal fall investigated

GRANBY, Colo. (AP) — In- released, but police said determine that it is safe for Linsmayer, a spokesman for equipped with a safety bar,
vestigators were trying to they were visiting from San the public to use, said Lee Colorado Ski Country USA, but it’s not clear if it was be-
determine Friday how a Antonio. Rasizer, a spokesman for the trade group represent- ing used, Linsmayer said.
Texas woman fell to her The 12-year-old daughter the Colorado Passenger ing most of the state’s ski The last fatal fall in Colo-
death from a chairlift at a was treated and released Tramway Safety Board. resorts. rado, which accounts for
small Colorado ski resort, from the local hospital, but The ski industry expressed its “These things don’t hap- more than a fifth of skier vis-
the first fatal fall in the state her 9-year-old sister was air- condolences to the family, pen very often,” he said, re- its nationwide, happened
in over a decade. lifted to Children’s Hospital Chairlift deaths are rare, ferring to statistics from the in 2002 when the manager
The 40-year-old woman’s in suburban Denver. Her both in Colorado and National Ski Areas Associa- of Winter Park Ski Resort fell
two daughters were also in- condition wasn’t released. across the country. People tion regarding deaths due about 15 feet from a lift
jured after falling about 20 The Quick Draw Express lift, are five times more likely to to mechanical problems after suffering seizure-like
feet with her on Thursday which brings skiers to be- die in an elevator accident with chairlifts. symptoms.
at Ski Granby Ranch about ginner and intermediate and eight times more likely Falls are also sometimes Colorado’s worst accident
90 miles west of Denver. terrain, will remain closed to die in a car accident caused by mistakes made happened in 1976, when
Their names haven’t been until state regulators can than on a ski lift, said Chris by riders or medical prob- four people were killed af-
lems. ter cable wires became
According to a report from entangled in a gondola in
the association, there have Vail. In 1985, two people
been three deaths from died at Keystone Resort af-
falls not related to any me- ter the welding on the large
chanical problems since wheel used to pull the ca-
2004 in the United States. ble failed.
The Ski Granby lift was