Paul Wellstone

Paul David Wellstone (July 21, 1944 – October 25, 2002) was an American politician and two-term U.S. Senator from Minnesota. He was a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and was a professor of political science at Carleton College before being elected to the Senate in 1990. Wellstone was a liberal and a leading spokesperson for the progressive wing of the national Democratic Party. He served in the Senate until his death in a plane crash on 25 October 2002. His wife, Sheila, and daughter, Marcia, also died in the crash. They had two other grown children, David and Mark, who now co-chair the Wellstone Action nonprofit group.

Death

At about 10:22am, October 25, 2002, Wellstone was killed at the age of 58 with seven others in a plane crash in northern Minnesota. The other victims were his wife, Sheila, one of his three children, Marcia, the two pilots, and campaign staffers Will McLaughlin, Tom Lapic, and Mary McEvoy. The plane was en route to Eveleth where Wellstone was to attend the funeral of Martin Rukavina, a steelworker whose son Tom Rukavina was in the Minnesota House of Representatives. Wellstone decided to go to the funeral instead of a rally and fundraiser in Minneapolis attended by Mondale and fellow Senator Ted Kennedy. He was to debate Norm Coleman in Duluth that night.

Related Topics:
October 25 - 2002 - Sheila - Tom Lapic - Mary McEvoy - Eveleth - Martin Rukavina - Tom Rukavina - Minnesota House of Representatives - Ted Kennedy - Duluth

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The Beechcraft King Air A100 plane crashed in dense forest about two miles from the Eveleth airport while operating under instrument flight rules as required for weather conditions of freezing rain and snow. Investigators were dismayed to learn that unlike many larger commercial planes, the charter plane Wellstone was traveling in had no flight data recorders. Both pilots tested negative for drug or alcohol use. Icing was considered and rejected as a significant factor in the crash.

Related Topics:
Beechcraft King Air A100 - Eveleth - Instrument flight rules - Freezing rain - Snow - Flight data recorder - Icing

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The NTSB later determined that the likely cause of the accident was the failure of both the pilot and copilot to maintain a safe minimum airspeed, leading to a stall from which they could not recover. Fatigue could have affected this, as the day before the crash the pilot had flown an unexpected trip from 3 - 9:30 am and then worked a nursing shift from 6 - 10 pm. Wellstone's flight departed St. Paul at about 9:37 the following morning. However, both pilots would have had to fail in their task of monitoring the airplane's instrumentation and in-flight behavior which would have given ample warning of an impending stall. Therefore, fatigue is likely not the only factor. It is possible that they were distracted due to being off course.

Related Topics:
NTSB - Stall - St. Paul

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Richard Conry, the pilot, was characterized in the report as being "below average" in proficiency, and significant discrepancies were found in his flight logs in the course of the post-accident investigation. He also had a well-known tendency to allow copilots to take over all functions of the aircraft as if they were the sole pilot during flights. After the crash three copilots told of occasions in which they had to take control of the aircraft away from Conry. A few months before the crash he told a friend he had difficulty piloting and landing King Airs.

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The copilot was cited by coworkers as having to be consistently reminded to keep his hand on the throttle and maintain airspeed during approaches. He had been fired from two previous piloting jobs for incompetence.

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The final two radar readings detected the airplane traveling at or just below its predicted stall speed given conditions at the time of the accident.

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