11/01/2002 - Updated 12:26 PM ET
Charter flights raise risks to candidates
By Mimi Hall, USA TODAY
Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson held on tight last Friday as his small Lear jet hit the runway at the Omaha airport. The pilot, dealing with a malfunctioning nose gear, kept the plane on its back wheels as long as he could. When the front wheel touched ground, the plane veered wildly back and forth.
"I tell you, that puts your heart in your throat," Nelson says.
Fatal flights 1972-2002
Since 1972, at least 14 prominent politicians have died in plane crashes. Where and when they died:
Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone , Eveleth, Minn., 2002.
Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan , St. Louis, 2000.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown , Croatia, 1996.
South Dakota Gov. George Mickelson , Dubuque, Iowa, 1993.
Pennsylvania Sen. John Heinz , Lower Merion, Pennsylvania, 1991.
Texas Sen. John Tower , Brunswick, Ga., 1991.
Mississippi Rep. Larkin Smith , DeSoto National Forest, Mississippi, 1989.
Texas Rep. Mickey Leland , Ethiopia, 1989.
Georgia Rep. Larry McDonald , near Soviet Union, 1983.
Missouri Rep. Jerry Litton , Missouri, 1976.
California Rep. Jerry Pettis , Beaumont, Calif., 1975.
Louisiana Rep. Hale Boggs , Alaska, 1972.
Alaska Rep. Nick Begich , Alaska, 1972.
Illinois Rep. George Collins , Chicago, 1972.
Source: USA TODAY research
A short time later, Nelson tried to leave town again aboard a King Air propeller plane. Once again, the pilot had to return to the airport because of a malfunction in the nose gear.
As Nelson was contemplating a third attempt, his cell phone rang: Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone's chartered twin-engine plane, also a King Air, had gone down in light snow. The senator, his wife and daughter, three aides and two pilots were killed.
That crash came two years after a similar campaign-season crash killed Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan. It has raised new questions about the safety of small chartered planes — and whether too many politicians are taking too many risks in their relentless quest to win votes.
It's hard to find a politician who hasn't had a scare aboard a small plane, especially during the frantic few weeks before an election.
Every election season, the story is the same: As voting day approaches, campaigns go into overdrive. Candidates from Alaska to Florida spend long days and nights crisscrossing their states, trying to reach as many voters as possible.
Campaigns typically charter or borrow small propeller planes that can land at big-city airports or small-town airfields. Unlike commercial planes, they can be ready to lift off as soon as the candidate is ready to go. That means no security lines, no waiting at the gate, no delays.
Norm Coleman, the Republican candidate for Senate in Minnesota who now faces former vice president Walter Mondale, was back in the air Wednesday. He began a six-day blitz to Election Day aboard a small chartered plane just like the one that carried Wellstone.
For politicians, the pressure to fly is intense, even in the face of tragedy. "You cannot be in big-time politics without flying on small planes," former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore says. Gilmore lost one of his closest friends, Virginia lawyer Richard Obenshain, to a plane crash in 1978. Obenshain's small plane went down in a fiery crash short of a central Virginia runway while he was campaigning for the Senate.
Gilmore says he vowed not to fly in small planes after that. But when he decided to run for governor in 1997, he reversed course. "My consultants said, 'Here's the deal: You either fly on these small planes or you lose,' " Gilmore says.
Like most candidates for statewide office from big states, Gilmore has his share of small-plane horror stories. Once, the door flew open while his plane was over the Chesapeake Bay. Another time, the pilot's instruments failed. Gilmore was talking to someone on his cell phone at the time. Thinking the plane might go down, he asked the person to call his wife. "Tell Roxane I love her," he said.
In northern states, the so-called fly-arounds, where candidates appear at tarmac rallies and news conferences in a half-dozen or more towns per day, can become more perilous as Election Day approaches. Early November weather can bring freezing rain and snow.
For former four-term Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson, the close calls are seared in his memory. There was the time one of the engines caught fire. The time one of the wheels fell off during takeoff. The time the landing gear jammed, and the plane almost ran out of fuel. The time he got thrown around flying through a thunderstorm. The time he barely made it through an ice storm.
"The truth of the matter is, I'm lucky," Thompson says. Now he flies mostly on commercial jets as President Bush's secretary of health and human services.
National Transportation Safety Board statistics show that flying on charter flights operated by small carriers is more dangerous than flying on a large airline.
Still, that doesn't make it particularly dangerous.
Since 1990, there were 7.5 fatal accidents per million hours of flight among small charter companies. The large airline accident rate over the same is 0.2 fatal accidents per million hours.
Even small-state candidates do fly-arounds in the waning days of their campaigns.
Katrina Swett, a Democrat running for the U.S. House of Representatives in New Hampshire, had a six-town tour of her state planned for last Saturday. But forecasters were predicting rain and fog in the southern part of the state and snow and ice in the north. That, combined with the news of Wellstone's crash, prompted the 47-year-old mother of seven to cancel the trip.
Nelson, who was headed to South Dakota last week to campaign for his colleague, Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson, instead stayed in Omaha when he heard about Wellstone.
But three days later, he was back in the air aboard a small Cessna propeller plane, headed for South Dakota. And on his way home Wednesday, that plane had trouble. Shortly after takeoff, one of the engines sputtered, apparently unable to get enough fuel.
Nelson is fatalistic. "If you travel enough, you're going to have some close calls," he says. "That, statistically, is the case."
Contributing: Alan Levin
Charter flights raise risks to candidates
By Mimi Hall, USA TODAY
Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson held on tight last Friday as his small Lear jet hit the runway at the Omaha airport. The pilot, dealing with a malfunctioning nose gear, kept the plane on its back wheels as long as he could. When the front wheel touched ground, the plane veered wildly back and forth.
"I tell you, that puts your heart in your throat," Nelson says.
Fatal flights 1972-2002
Since 1972, at least 14 prominent politicians have died in plane crashes. Where and when they died:
Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone , Eveleth, Minn., 2002.
Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan , St. Louis, 2000.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown , Croatia, 1996.
South Dakota Gov. George Mickelson , Dubuque, Iowa, 1993.
Pennsylvania Sen. John Heinz , Lower Merion, Pennsylvania, 1991.
Texas Sen. John Tower , Brunswick, Ga., 1991.
Mississippi Rep. Larkin Smith , DeSoto National Forest, Mississippi, 1989.
Texas Rep. Mickey Leland , Ethiopia, 1989.
Georgia Rep. Larry McDonald , near Soviet Union, 1983.
Missouri Rep. Jerry Litton , Missouri, 1976.
California Rep. Jerry Pettis , Beaumont, Calif., 1975.
Louisiana Rep. Hale Boggs , Alaska, 1972.
Alaska Rep. Nick Begich , Alaska, 1972.
Illinois Rep. George Collins , Chicago, 1972.
Source: USA TODAY research
A short time later, Nelson tried to leave town again aboard a King Air propeller plane. Once again, the pilot had to return to the airport because of a malfunction in the nose gear.
As Nelson was contemplating a third attempt, his cell phone rang: Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone's chartered twin-engine plane, also a King Air, had gone down in light snow. The senator, his wife and daughter, three aides and two pilots were killed.
That crash came two years after a similar campaign-season crash killed Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan. It has raised new questions about the safety of small chartered planes — and whether too many politicians are taking too many risks in their relentless quest to win votes.
It's hard to find a politician who hasn't had a scare aboard a small plane, especially during the frantic few weeks before an election.
Every election season, the story is the same: As voting day approaches, campaigns go into overdrive. Candidates from Alaska to Florida spend long days and nights crisscrossing their states, trying to reach as many voters as possible.
Campaigns typically charter or borrow small propeller planes that can land at big-city airports or small-town airfields. Unlike commercial planes, they can be ready to lift off as soon as the candidate is ready to go. That means no security lines, no waiting at the gate, no delays.
Norm Coleman, the Republican candidate for Senate in Minnesota who now faces former vice president Walter Mondale, was back in the air Wednesday. He began a six-day blitz to Election Day aboard a small chartered plane just like the one that carried Wellstone.
For politicians, the pressure to fly is intense, even in the face of tragedy. "You cannot be in big-time politics without flying on small planes," former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore says. Gilmore lost one of his closest friends, Virginia lawyer Richard Obenshain, to a plane crash in 1978. Obenshain's small plane went down in a fiery crash short of a central Virginia runway while he was campaigning for the Senate.
Gilmore says he vowed not to fly in small planes after that. But when he decided to run for governor in 1997, he reversed course. "My consultants said, 'Here's the deal: You either fly on these small planes or you lose,' " Gilmore says.
Like most candidates for statewide office from big states, Gilmore has his share of small-plane horror stories. Once, the door flew open while his plane was over the Chesapeake Bay. Another time, the pilot's instruments failed. Gilmore was talking to someone on his cell phone at the time. Thinking the plane might go down, he asked the person to call his wife. "Tell Roxane I love her," he said.
In northern states, the so-called fly-arounds, where candidates appear at tarmac rallies and news conferences in a half-dozen or more towns per day, can become more perilous as Election Day approaches. Early November weather can bring freezing rain and snow.
For former four-term Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson, the close calls are seared in his memory. There was the time one of the engines caught fire. The time one of the wheels fell off during takeoff. The time the landing gear jammed, and the plane almost ran out of fuel. The time he got thrown around flying through a thunderstorm. The time he barely made it through an ice storm.
"The truth of the matter is, I'm lucky," Thompson says. Now he flies mostly on commercial jets as President Bush's secretary of health and human services.
National Transportation Safety Board statistics show that flying on charter flights operated by small carriers is more dangerous than flying on a large airline.
Still, that doesn't make it particularly dangerous.
Since 1990, there were 7.5 fatal accidents per million hours of flight among small charter companies. The large airline accident rate over the same is 0.2 fatal accidents per million hours.
Even small-state candidates do fly-arounds in the waning days of their campaigns.
Katrina Swett, a Democrat running for the U.S. House of Representatives in New Hampshire, had a six-town tour of her state planned for last Saturday. But forecasters were predicting rain and fog in the southern part of the state and snow and ice in the north. That, combined with the news of Wellstone's crash, prompted the 47-year-old mother of seven to cancel the trip.
Nelson, who was headed to South Dakota last week to campaign for his colleague, Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson, instead stayed in Omaha when he heard about Wellstone.
But three days later, he was back in the air aboard a small Cessna propeller plane, headed for South Dakota. And on his way home Wednesday, that plane had trouble. Shortly after takeoff, one of the engines sputtered, apparently unable to get enough fuel.
Nelson is fatalistic. "If you travel enough, you're going to have some close calls," he says. "That, statistically, is the case."
Contributing: Alan Levin
