Is it just me, or are there any awful lot of planes going down these days?

R.

*********************************************************************

U.N. plane crashes on humanitarian flight to Kosovo November 12, 1999 Web posted at: 12:40 p.m. EST (1740 GMT)

PRISTINA, Kosovo (CNN) -- A World Food Program (WFP) plane with 24 people aboard crashed Friday just outside of Pristina, Kosovo, said United Nations and WFP officials.

WFP director Catherine Bertini told CNN that 21 passengers and three crew members were aboard the aircraft, which had been on a routine humanitarian flight to Kosovo from Rome.

Maj. Ole Irgens, a spokesman for NATO's Kosovo peacekeeping force (KFOR), said the plane disappeared from radar about 12:30 p.m (1130 GMT) between 10 and 20 kilometers (about 6 to 12 miles) north of Pristina. Pristina was shrouded by rainy, overcast conditions at the time.

KFOR deployed a search and rescue operation for the plane at 1 p.m. (1200 GMT), dispatching three helicopters and ground searchers north of the Kosovo capital in the sector controlled by the British.

The search, in an area littered "with a lot of unexploded ordnance," was hampered by poor weather and the approach of darkness, U.N. officials said.

Passengers were believed to include personnel from the U.N. operation in Kosovo (UNMIK), the WFP, several nongovernmental organizations, Canadian government officials and a U.N. volunteer.

U.N. spokesman Fred Eckard in New York said the plane took off from Rome with an intermediate stop in Tirana, Albania, on its way to Pristina. But there was no confirmation that the plane actually touched down in Albania.

Eckard said the plane, a propeller-driven, twin-engine ART 42, took off from Ciampino Airport in Rome at 9:12 a.m. (0812 GMT) and had been expected to arrive in Pristina at noon (1100 GMT).

The WFP operates a shuttle flight between Rome, where the headquarters of the organization is located, and Pristina, six days a week.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), November 12, 1999

Answers

I remember plane crashes in the headlines nearly all the time for most of my life. Much of the reason I avoided air travel for my first 26 years.

-- John Deere (garynorth2@yahoo.com), November 12, 1999.