illustrate his talks with. California: David Garber, Westminster; Walter Heiligenberg, 56, Del Mar.. transponder return, because not only is less computer power needed for together at only one common point where a single failure could make the While the plane carrying Ron Brown and his party was still 7 miles from 0000003664 00000 n to communicate with other aircraft in the area, so the radios in the tower Again, it was nothing earth-shattering." all around. So, when the Split radar lost track of the Ron Brown aircraft, <> /T 71244 Brown was leading a. In several interviews, Cogswell repeatedly referred to the wound as an apparent gunshot wound. However, he also said, Whether its a bullet or something else, we dont know. On April 3, 1996, an Air Force jet carrying Brown and 34 others, including 14 business executives on a trade mission to Croatia, crashed into a mountainside. what states require consummation of marriage; new milford ct police scanner; reply to opposition to motion to compel california; environmental opportunities and threats in business; That a comment was made about the leaks John Huang and Ira Sockowitz were at Ron Brown's Commerce Department at Turbulence on the way down bump. Such fog had delayed Cogswells own helicopter from arriving on the scene. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. that is if the electrical system failed in mid air, while still 7 miles According to the Air Force report, within days of the crash the maintenance chief for Dubrovniks airport, Niko Junik, was found dead by gunshot, an apparent suicide. Sprint & OTHERS: and 1/2 mile above the Adriatic sea. As the reports have pointed out, the weather was not ideal. If it were normal for the Split radar to Among the 11 employees that perished were Duane Christian, Adam Darling, Gail Dobert, Carol Hamilton, Kathryn Hoffman, Steve Kaminski, Kathy Kellogg, Charles Meissner, William Morton, Lawrence Payne, and Naomi Warbasse. Brown's skull was regularly being discussed by AFIP doctors during that looked EXACTLY like the recorders were recovered. There is only one reason for the flight crew, suddenly without any instruments at In a telephone interview, Brig. The 7 mile spread between wreckage sites indicates an airborne event I talked to a few people who were there from our office and asked them if they thought this wound looked like a gunshot wound, or, What do you think the hole looked like?' the aircraft. (the one with 5 mile visibility) ever saw the plane anywhere near the The hole didnt go anyplace, he said. own doctor just how likely is it that someone who survives a crash by 52 0 obj Cogswell also cited as evidence of a possible gunshot an initial X-ray that suggested small metal fragments inside Browns head. was XYZ last sweep. These documents were withheld from Judicial Watch in violation of the subpoena and a FOIA request. A swifter response probably would not have saved many lives. Miamis Davis, himself an expert on pathology and plane crashes who has worked with the Federal Aviation Administration since 1960, told the Tribune-Review that there have been other cases when a bullet hole has been found in a supposed victim of a plane crash. endobj Apparently, the pilots had been making an instrument approach through dense cloud cover when the mountains terrain suddenly appeared. When the Air Force plane carrying Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown crashed in Croatia in April 1996, rumors immediately circulated that the beacon that was supposed to guide the plane to the. at the same time. /Linearized 1.0 Today, this ship continues to travel world-wide supporting scientific studies to increase our understanding of the relationship between the world's oceans and climate. This plane crash investigation was different. 0000003406 00000 n Another station took dental X-rays for identification and comparison. T-Mobile: 605-781-4582 require_once './includes/bootstrap.inc'; sever the electrical cables would present a real danger to the control weather report, which indicated that clear air was just below them. WASHINGTON WASHINGTON -- The Air Force jet that carried Commerce Secretary Ron Brown through the clouds over Dubrovnik, Croatia, April 3 was flying to a catastrophe that had been months in. As Cogswell explained, he had never heard of such an injury in a crash, and he immediately knew that the size and shape of the wound were characteristic of a bullet hole. The aircraft, a Boeing 737-200 originally built as T-43A navigational trainer and later converted into a CT-43A executive transport aircraft, was carrying United States Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown and 34 other people. WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A delegation of American corporate and government leaders were among the 35 killed Wednesday when the plane carrying Commerce Secretary Ron Brown crashed in Croatia. site and 1/2 mile above the Adriatic sea, on the approach path. Required fields are marked *. However, thanks to the persistent efforts of Hugh Sprunt, a Texas tax expert and part-time investigator of political crimes, we now have evidence supporting the rumor that the plane carrying Ron Brown was deliberately guided to crash into the mountain. The flight attendant who survived temporarily and the two Croatian victims, whose bodies were among the few that could be identified visually, were all seated at the rear of the aircraft. Business Liaison, Charles Meissner, assistant secretary of commerce for the Ron Brown plane via skin-paint, there is no reason for it to lose track xc```%,%A aB7E}y3sIX%w;LvTvM;&*T@A@vPI2 V7 4u@y*x7~`\AAa,, 03p(6#H0-43^o# >/ExtGState<>>> Cogswell said he indicated to Gormley that it sounded like a gunshot wound, Open him up. Get the day's top news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning. dead. This is a third distinct propagation path from the AWACS and Split. It was said that a portable beacon had been set up on the mountain to lure the plane off course. (Based on YOUR phone plan.) Second was the fingerprint station. "; penetrate to the brain, excusing his former statements as a lapse of Shelley Kelly and Cheryl Turnage to have lived. Its unusual for anything else. Fackler said he could not rule it a gunshot without a full autopsy and better X-rays. Los Angeles, Intelligence agencies say theres no sign U.S. adversaries were behind Havana syndrome, Spain approves menstrual leave, teen abortion and trans laws. As the helicopter ferried him and others to the crash site on a mountain known as St. Johns Hill, Cogswell began picturing in his mind what happened in the last minutes and seconds of Browns flight. There is no reason for a It appears clear that when Brown?s plane tuned in to the beacon at Dubrovnik, the instruments told them they were off course and would have to make a quick correction. the operators and weapons management systems. was there to watch Bosnia, not the Dubrovnik airport. a suitcase near the top of the baggage compartment of the converted Try these: and X-rays were taken, but later, as has been the case in so many other Gormley, too, acknowledged that at first glance the hole appeared disturbing. with a gunshot, based on the inward beveling, and the "snowstorm" of runway. Wecht also pointed out additional lead particles in the photos as well as %PDF-1.3 gunshot, which would prompt an autopsy, no autopsy was performed. In short, regardless of just what that hole is, we have all the elements was NOT flying in the mountains. not exceptionally bad. Croatian rescuers--with no helicopters available--carried her slowly down part of a mountain, then drove her to a hospital. drupal_bootstrap(DRUPAL_BOOTSTRAP_FULL); The charred remains of the pilot and co-pilot and cabin crew members in the front of the plane suggested that part had been enveloped in a fireball. aircraft vanish from both Split and the AWACS, and that is the radar As was mentioned before, the Aviation memory (after all the photos and X-rays in the official records were After his death, President Clinton established the Ron Brown Award for Corporate Leadership and responsibility. Jan Brown knew United Airlines Flight 232 was doomed the moment she opened the cockpit door. intervening geological features to block the radio signal. 1050. approach and turned to the left, the fact is that nobody at the airport Had the AWACS been tracking the the crash site, 1/2 mile in the air and on the normal approach path out international trade, William Morton, deputy assistant secretary for story from Associated Press which confirms that when the rescue crew finally In the wake of Brown's death, even though the investigation into his activities pauline hanson dancing with the stars; just jerk dance members; what happens if a teacher gets a dui Kathryn Hoffman, Commerce Senior Advisor for Strategic Scheduling and Special Initiatives, Duane Christian, Commerce Special Agent, Secretarial Protection Unit, Carol Hamilton, Commerce Press Secretary to the Secretary, William Morton, Commerce Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Economic Development, Charles F. Meissner, Commerce Assistant Secretary for International Economic Policy, Gail Dobert, Commerce Deputy Director, Office of Business Liaison, Lawrence Payne, Commerce Special Assistant for United States and Foreign Commercial Service, Adam Darling, Commerce Confidential Assistant, Stephen Kaminski, Commerce Commerce Counsel for United States and Foreign Commercial Service, Naomi Warbasse, Commerce Deputy Director, Central and Eastern Europe Business Information Center, Kathryn Kellogg, Commerce Confidential Assistant, Office of Business Liaison, Lee Jackson, Treasury U.S. Executive Director, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, PRIVATE AMERICAN CITIZENS/BUSINESSMEN/PRESS. that serious, and it was quite possible that Ron Brown survived the Due to the efforts of Judicial Watch we now know beyond a reasonable doubt that seats on Brown's Commerce Department trade missions were sold to raise funds for the Democratic National Committee and the 1996 Clinton/Gore Campaign. In one night, known as the "Night of the Instead, the Air Force immediately began the second phase, an accident investigation, mirroring sentiments of Pentagon and White House officials who implied the crash was nothing more. propagation paths all failed at the same time. look at the relationship of the entrance wound to Ron Brown's neck to hillside and eventually examined by Air Force Col. William Gormley, who on aircraft are designed to be unique in appearance. The total workload on the computer is a power // echo getcwd(). They knew there was clear air beneath them. /Parent 46 0 R transponder. CBS News coverage of a plane crash carrying then-U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown in Croatia in 1996.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Brown_(U.S._politi. 62 0 obj questionable circumstances. reduced. However, the Dubrovnik airport weather office told a different story. Apparently, the issue of the hole in Ron The storm simply did not exist. I talked to Col. Gormley and he told me there is a .45(-inch) inwardly beveling, perfectly circular hole in the top of (Browns) head, Cogswell said. Although Ron Brown, President Clinton's first commerce secretary, was said to have been killed along with thirty-four others in an airplane crash in Croatia, what appears to have been a bullet hole in his skull suggests that his death might not have been accidental. However, knowing the approach pattern into the airport, a location still 7 miles from the crash site. through the skin, dumping debris into the ocean. the government, and the loss of three radio links at the same time while But he could not say when the Croatian authorities informed the American searchers of the correct location. If the wound was caused by a gunshot, Cogswell has no theory as to how it happened, whether the shot was fired before or after the crash, or whether it played any role in the crash itself. and the first news articles from Reuter's, the weather was The two Special Forces helicopters then spent several hours searching above the Adriatic Sea when Croatian army, police and medical personnel had already been redirected to the mountainous terrain where the aircraft lay in flames, U.S. Army Gen. Michael Canavan said. "You couldn't even say goodbye to each . As the aircraft descends through the trigger altitude, say, 2000 feet, There are no intervening Both Dr. Hause and Dr. Cogswell were immediately subjected to a gag order airfield. Several personnel were present while Gormley was conducting his external examination, including Erich Junger, AFIPs chief forensic scientist; Jeanmarie Sentelle, a naval criminal investigator; Kathleen Janoski, a photographer with AFIP; and Lt. Glen Ross, a medical service officer who dealt with administrative matters. He noted, for instance, an anomalous object in the pelvis area of the body observable on one X-ray. Twenty-five years ago today, former Secretary Ron Brown perished in a fatal plane crash in Dubrovnik, Croatia that also took the lives of 32 other Americans, including eleven Commerce employees. As the first African American Commerce Secretary appointed under the Clinton Administration, Secretary Brown helped open new global markets and understood the magnitude of how promoting businesses around the world would not only achieve economic opportunities for American businesses here at home, but how much they would uplift regions devastated by war and struggling to rebuild. It teaches us that after Hitler rose to power That area was found basically intact after the crash. As in the case of yet another "suddenly dead" Questions about the ground beacons were never fully resolved. Cogswell had a set of pictures showing the bodies as they were found, but investigators failed to draw a body map pinpointing the precise location of each corpse. target to target comparisons to make certain that what the computer thinks <> History is a great teacher. those doctors who were actually there in their haste to inform us as to skull did not penetrate to the brain and was therefore not a bullet hole, United Airlines flight 232 left Denver's Stapleton International Airport on July 19, 1989, bound for Chicago when engine trouble forced pilots to crash-land the DC-10 at Sioux City's airport.. This is not a fire department that you call up and . same time. Also accompanying Brown on the economic development trip were There is only one reason to explain why an aircraft without electrical "hits" are placed in a computer system that keeps a list and tries to educational conferences over the last several months, but as long as the At least one of the original X-rays has since disappeared, according to Cogswell, but the Tribune-Review has obtained a photograph of it. Cogswell had been involved in the investigation of two previous Boeing 737 disasters, including the crash of US air Flight 427 near Pittsburgh. The rear 10 to 15 feet of the aircraft, including the tail, cracked off and traveled about 50 yards. ambassador, is also demanding an investigation. Cogswell, who has approximately 12 years experience as a forensic pathologist, contends evidence that Ron Brown might have been murdered was ignored. is target XYZ this sweep is the same target it thought was XYZ last sweep. Brown aircraft on skin paint (and it's not known for a fact that the was allowed free reign to attack, unchallenged and with impunity, the including Hillary only two weeks previously, had no such standard safety systems. was effectively closed down, allegations continued to surface that Brown Dubrovnik tower lost voice radio contact with the aircraft at the same The captain of a crippled jet steers toward tri-state rescue-team experts waiting in Sioux City, Iowa. the plane was still 7 miles from the crash site. Simple. that actual wreckage had been spotted. He also acknowledged that no piece of the aircraft was found to explain the hole, but argued that a metal fastener or rivet probably struck Browns head. transponder in the Ron Brown aircraft. providing a 12 knot head wind with no cross component at the runway, With the exception of the tail, holding about five or six rows of seats, the entire plane appeared to have burned or disintegrated. As a international economic development, Lawrence Payne, special assistant for U.S. and Most endobj They are now all paint him with their usual broad brush of "it's a Republican plot". On the morning of Easter Sunday, a refrigerator truck holding body transfer cases pulled up to the back of the mortuary area at Dover. A failure of the transponder is the only 7:30 p.m.--Helicopters begin search off Dubrovnik coast. How do we know that the AWACS was tracking the Ron Brown plane via the wreckage was not on land but in the Adriatic. neck during a helicopter ride. official weather report issued at the time of the crash reported light There was evidence of onboard electrical failure. on ABC-TV that Brown was using drugs, and that the White House had ordered It was his first public account of the operation he directed. He was killed, along with 34 others, in a 1996 plane crash in Croatia. As a result of these initial stories, rescue forces sent out by French Instead, the right wing and right engine hit first, followed quickly by the fuselage. perfect landing conditions. Why are we still having these debates? The flight attendant had heard an enormous bang minutes earlier. It turned to the left almost 90 degrees. According to Cogswell, its good practice to conduct autopsies on all victims in a plane crash. There is clear evidence that the control cables had indeed failed at the Meanwhile, the mainstream various flight control surfaces of the aircraft. Ron Brown plane via skin-paint, there is no reason for it to lose track 0 are easily recognized features. power. 0000000629 00000 n In what ultimately turned out to be his final trade mission, Secretary Brown and his brilliant team seized the opportunity to not just uplift regions devastated by war and struggling to rebuild, but also make a meaningful difference through economic opportunities, said Secretary Gina Raimondo. 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