Ice May Have Caused Plane Crash : Troop Fatalities Revised to 248 in Newfoundland Accident

GANDER, Newfoundland â€”  The pilot of a military charter that crashed while bringing 248 U.S. soldiers home for Christmas did not ask to have the plane de-iced before take-off, an official with an airport service company said Friday.

Canadian government officials in Ottawa, meanwhile, rejected claims by Middle East terrorist organizations to have planted a bomb on the plane before it left Egypt to return the servicemen home from a six-month peacekeeping mission in the Sinai peninsula.

Canadian investigators said earlier that there was no evidence of sabotage despite a dramatic explosion when the plane crashed Thursday morning. Speculation about the cause of the crash has centered on weather factors and the safety record of Arrow Air of Miami, operators of the DC-8.

Pentagon Revises Toll

The Pentagon on Friday revised its estimate of how many military personnel died in the crash, saying 248 rather than 250 soldiers were on board.

“After having received and verified documents, the Army has identified 248 soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division who were aboard the DC-8 that crashed in Gander, Newfoundland,� it said.

It remains the worst single charter plane crash in history and the worst such disaster involving U.S. military personnel.

Lloyd Granter, acting general manager of Allied Aviation Service Co., which provides costly de-icing services to aircraft at Gander International Airport, said Friday that his firm normally de-ices aircraft only when the pilot asks for it.

Freezing Drizzle

In this case, “it wasn’t done,� he said, despite light freezing drizzle mixed with snow that had fallen about an hour and a quarter before the plane took off for Ft. Campbell, Ky., home of the elite 101st Airborne Division.

John Pitman, Gander airport manager, earlier refused comment on reports that the plane had not been de-iced during its refueling stop at Gander. He said visibility was 12 miles at the time of the crash and the runway was not slippery.

Newspapers in Beirut on Friday reported a call late Thursday from an Arabic-speaking man claiming to represent Islamic Jihad who said the fundamentalist group planted a bomb aboard the plane in cooperation with members of the “Arab Egypt Movement�--an exiled Egyptian group.

“We have proved to President Reagan that we can carry out our threats,� the caller said.

A second anonymous caller told Italy’s ANSA news agency the plane was sabotaged by “the Organization for the Liberation of Egypt.� Police have no knowledge of the group.

Claims Rejected

Canada Friday rejected terrorists’ claims and said there was no evidence of sabotage.

“A lot of groups will claim responsibility and every (claim) will be looked into,� said Helene Lafortune, a spokeswoman for the Department of External Affairs.

But she said she would expect such groups to claim responsibility no matter where the flight originated. “They use that to promote their cause. I don’t think it’s a lead on anything,� she said.

Christiane Beaulieu, of the Canadian Aviation Safety Board, told a morning news conference in Gander that investigators were taking Islamic Jihad’s claim into consideration but would not comment further until the DC-8’s flight data recorder and voice box are analyzed.

The devices, known as the plane’s “black box,� were recovered Thursday and sent to Canada’s National Research Council in Ottawa for analysis.

Voice Recorder Broken

Tom Hinton, director of investigations for Canada’s air safety board, said the cockpit voice recorder, which tapes conversations between the pilot and the air traffic control tower, was broken in the crash.

“Our initial examination of the tape does not reveal any obvious information that will help us determine the cause of the crash,� Hinton said.

The flight data recorder on the DC-8 was of an older unsophisticated variety and was so heavily damaged by fire that it too may provide few clues, Hinton said.

Beaulieu said about 70% of the bodies of the 248 passengers and eight crew were recovered by late morning and they expected to recover the remainder by midafternoon.