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02 November 99
High-tech gear again will scour ocean floor
The task of salvaging the submerged wreck of EgyptAir 990
and recovering the bodies of passengers is so daunting
that even the well-equipped U.S. Navy ship Grapple
will have to stop off today and take on more gear
before it reports to the crash site.
07 November 99
Search for EgyptAir recorders continues
NEWPORT, R.I. - The Navy's remote-controlled Deep Drone mini-submarine
continued its search last night with the blessing of relatively calm seas
south of Nantucket Island, Mass.,
where the wreckage of EgyptAir Flight 990
lies beneath about 250 feet of water.
Unusual efforts led to recovery of Kennedy crash victims
WASHINGTON - The search for the remains of John F. Kennedy Jr. in the waters off Martha's Vineyard, Mass., was more aggressive and sophisticated than efforts usually launched for average citizens.
But federal officials said that - at least in the early days when the focus was on finding survivors from Kennedy's missing plane - the mission was like thousands of others.
Once officials switched gears into a salvage effort to recover the bodies of Kennedy, his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, unusual resources were added. For example, a
Navy ship recovered the bodies and the wreckage. And science ships from the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scanned the sea bottom.
Though Clinton did not mention it, there was concern in the government that if it did not recover Kennedy's body and the airplane wreckage, scavengers or souvenir hunters would. The same improvements in technology used by the Coast Guard and Navy also are available to private concerns like the one that discovered the Titanic.
In routine plane crashes over water, the government leaves the wreckage. When there is recovery, it is normally by private marine salvage firms, paid by an insurance company, by family, or by salvage operators.
"A lot of planes go down and stay on the bottom of the ocean floor forever because of the expense or lack of interest,"
But in this case, the federal government remained intensely involved in the search and recovery of Kennedy's private plane.
At its peak, the search included Coast Guard ships, boats and aircraft; two
NOAA ships - the Rude and the Whiting - which use sonar to detect debris on the ocean floor; a
U.S. Navy salvage ship, the Grasp; and an Air Force airborne command center.
The Grasp had never assisted in the recovery of a civilian aircraft, said Navy Lt. Meghan Mariman.
Few would quarrel with the special treatment accorded the only son of an assassinated president.
But relatives and friends of some others who have died in similar plane accidents say they have been saddened to realize that their loved ones didn't rate the same recovery efforts.
[ NOAA Report: NOAA Ships Survey, Locate JFK Jr. Plane,
see Issue August 1999 for full story ]
Long Love of Ocean for Kennedy Clan
BOSTON (July 22) - John F. Kennedy Jr. will spend eternity where generations of his family have sought escape, solace and recreation - at sea.
``We all came from the sea,'' his father, the 35th president, a Navy veteran and an avid sailor, said in 1962. ``We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea - whether it is to sail or to watch it - we are going back from whence we came.''
After being lost at sea five days, the three bodies were recovered by
Navy divers Wednesday from the twisted wreckage 116 feet underwater. The site is in view of the beachside estate Kennedy and his sister, Caroline, inherited from their mother, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
Sailing was a passionate rite of summer at Hyannis Port when John F. Kennedy was growing up.
``They learned to compete on the sea,'' said Evan Thomas, assistant managing editor at Newsweek. ``And all those sailboat races was one of the arenas where they learned to live life and fight hard. When war came, they chose to fight on the sea.''
Few were as passionate about the sea as JFK, who sailed throughout his life and became a hero for rescuing crew members of the sunken patrol-torpedo boat, PT-109, he commanded in the Pacific during World War II.
