Word: crafting
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...craft speeding through the August night north of Key Largo, Fla., looked like the kind favored by drug smugglers. It tried to run from a U.S. Customs patrol boat and stopped only when Agents Patrick Olive and Robert Rutt drew close enough to play their searchlight over its cockpit. One of the four men on board had a record of three narcotics arrests. But a thorough search turned up nothing, so Olive and Rutt could only wave goodbye. Perhaps the boat had been on a successful reconnaissance mission. As Olive explained, "The dope people have their own intelligence and counterintelligence...
...danger is not solely the fault of the little planes: in the San Diego crash, federal investigators blamed the P.S.A. crew for failing to keep the smaller craft in view. Still, the scary mix of traffic over a center like Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) may be even more hazardous than it was eight years ago. Says one 747 captain: "You get below 10,000 ft., and it becomes almost suicidal not to devote a tremendous amount of attention outside the cockpit. I can't tell you how difficult it is to pick up a small airplane...
Most small-craft pilots shun the "birdcages" around major airports whenever possible. William Kramer had no such choice: he took off from Torrance Municipal Airport, just ten miles from LAX, and was heading across the city toward Big Bear Lake, a resort area some 90 miles to the east. Kramer, who had moved from Spokane to the affluent Palos Verdes Peninsula early this year, had been licensed to fly for six years but had logged only 231 hours in the air, most of them in Washington's relatively uncrowded skies. On the fateful Sunday morning, Kramer reportedly bought...
...Roger." This plane is not believed to have been Kramer's Piper. Seconds later the controller's attention was diverted by a "pop-up," a small plane that unexpectedly radioed for traffic advice and instrument control. The controller assigned the plane a transponder code for identification as the craft flew across the Los Angeles Basin. But precious time was wasted when the pilot got the number wrong and had to be corrected...
...miles from land last week when crew members noticed unusual blips on the radar screen. Captain Gus Dalton changed course to investigate and soon came upon two lifeboats packed with passengers. Realizing that he could not squeeze all of them onto his 55-footer, Dalton radioed two other fishing craft in the area. The three boats loaded up and headed for the provincial capital of St. John's. On the way they met a Canadian fisheries patrol boat, which took on the 146 men, four women and five children and brought them to shore...