2 Signals Spur Search for Leland Plane

Crews searching for the plane carrying U.S. Rep. Mickey Leland and 13 companions redirected their hunt after a U.S. weather satellite picked up two emergency signals, one Thursday and one early today, that could be from the missing plane.

The ground locations of both signals were far from the intended route of the Texas Democrat’s plane Monday on its flight from Addis Ababa to a refugee camp about 300 miles to the west, near the border with Sudan.

Officials were especially hopeful about the second signal picked up by the satellite as it passed directly over Ethiopia shortly after midnight today. The satellite read the signal as coming from about 100 miles north-northwest of Addis Ababa. The plane carrying Leland, eight other Americans and five Ethiopians was supposed to be flying west.

“We have greater confidence in this particular signal because the satellite was in a better position to make a location,” said Russell Koffler of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Washington.

The second signal was picked up on a different frequency from the earlier one, but Koffler said the missing plane could broadcast on both frequencies.

“We are confident we got a good fix. We have more confidence in this signal than in the one last night,” said Koffler.

Officials believe the first signal came from 84 miles southeast of Addis Ababa. Both signals were far from the flight path Leland’s plane would have taken to reach Fugnido refugee camp, Leland’s destination. Leland is chairman of the House Select Committee on Hunger.

Transmitter in Tail

The two-engine Twin Otter aircraft was equipped with an emergency locater transmitter, a device usually mounted in the tail and activated automatically by impact or manually.

The first signal was picked up before dawn Thursday when the satellite passed along the Ethiopian border. Search teams set out on foot for that remote mountain area.

James T. Baily, manager of the agency’s search and rescue satellite program, said subsequent satellite passes could not confirm the signal because of radio interference.

Two U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules cargo planes arrived Thursday and spent three hours flying over the path Leland’s plane was supposed to have taken.

A U-2 aircraft also joined the search. U-2s are capable of taking high-resolution photographs over a broad area and were once commonly used for espionage missions. Four U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopters were expected to arrive today.

Four Ethiopian air force helicopters were also added, joining the U.S. fleet and more than a dozen light planes under the direction of the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority.

Since Monday, the search has centered on a high, mountainous plateau near the Sudanese border, not far from the Fugnido camp.

On board besides Leland were three members of his staff; a friend; four Americans from the U.S. Embassy and the U.S. Agency for International Development; and five Ethiopians.