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National briefsCompiled from Times wires © St. Petersburg Times, published April 2, 2001 Airport didn't get landing warningASPEN, Colo. -- Air traffic controllers at Aspen's airport apparently did not receive a warning against nighttime instrument landings before a chartered plane slammed into a hillside short of the runway, killing all 18 aboard, federal investigators said Sunday. Crews began removing the wreckage of the twin-engine Gulfstream III from the crash site a few hundreds yards from the runway. It was to be taken to a hangar at Greeley, Colo., for further study, officials said. Investigators still have not determined the cause of the crash Thursday night, which killed all 15 passengers and three crew members. The pilot had received permission from the tower to make an instrument landing, officials said. Two days before the crash on Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration had issued a notice that planes should not be allowed to make instrument landings at the Aspen airport at night. The pilot had receive the warning when the plane, which departed from Burbank, Calif., stopped in Los Angeles, said Carol Carmody, the National Transportation Safety Board's acting chairwoman. But she said at a news conference Sunday that the warning was not written clearly. The Gulfstream was approaching the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport on instruments during light snow when it crashed at 7 p.m. The airport's single runway is surrounded by mountains that force approaching aircraft to make steep descents, making landings tricky even on clear days. There is no record that the notice to pilots ever reached the airport, Carmody said. Poll: Global warming a serious problemWASHINGTON -- Two-thirds of Americans say President Bush should develop a plan to reduce the emission of gases like carbon dioxide that have been blamed for causing global temperature increases, says a poll released Sunday. In the middle of last month, Bush reversed himself on a campaign promise that his administration would reduce carbon dioxide emissions. His administration has also announced it will pull out of an international agreement aimed at combating climate change. The Time-CNN poll, taken after the announced pullout, found that three-fourths of Americans say they consider global warming to be a serious problem. More than four in 10 said they consider the problem very serious and three in 10 said it was fairly serious. European officials have warned the decision to pull out of the climate agreement, known as the Kyoto Protocol, could harm U.S. relations with the world. People were evenly split on whether they would be willing to pay 25 cents more per gallon for gasoline to reduce pollution and global warming. A decade ago, six of 10 were willing to pay that much more.
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From the Times wire desk
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