An email I'll share from Ingrid Newkirk

Below is Ms. Newkirk's email to me from this afternoon. With her permission, I'm sharing it in full.

*****

Dear William:

What knocks me for six is that you wouldn't make an enquiry of me if you felt there were errors in what I wrote, rather than just make public statements saying this is bogus. I am easy to find. Please make amends.

I have flown all my life, been in some oddball experiences, but the reason I feel passionately about this is because this was reckless, truly reckless and we all are very lucky. It was sheer luck that we lived, nothing exaggerated there. That plane, and only that plane, decided to press on when all others, something we passengers didn't know at the time but found out later, had diverted because of weather. I found out about the tornado watch the next day! To hear someone publicly tell say you seem to be lying is like pushing someone's face into the mud after they've fallen.

I will have the attorney who I hope still has the tapes get them copied for you. You can certainly speak to him and a pilot who listened to them and gave me advice on them. Other passengers and I wanted to sue but there is an exemption of some sort over the Virginia skyways or some other loophole.

There was an investigation by the FAA, which basically said "have a nice day." And probably the reason I got one set of recordings is because they were released by Oceana NAS where the plane tried to land on the second attempt after failing at Norfolk. The landing failed there too. There may be more tapes, I don't recall now, but I do remember the FAA trying to charge me a huge sum for tapes or a transcript of something that I balked at paying.

The third landing was in Newport News and we were greeted by emergency personnel. The pilots didn't know if the plane would be cleared to take off again, didn't know what to do about fuel as this was not their airport, were pretty shaken and so it went. Four passengers who had previously not known each other took a taxi back to Norfolk and shared our last moment thoughts about business and family.

I just found this email I sent to a fellow passenger, which jogged my memory about Oceana:


I have the tape of the conversation between Oceana and our bright boys in the cockpit. I'll send you a copy. To which address, please? There are lightening strikes, he has to be guided in (he, as we know, didn't make it), he makes two failed approaches, he admits he has been caught in wind shear, the visibility is about zero, he is running out of gas, has 5 minutes AT THAT POINT to Reserve. Unforgivable. More later, but please advise which address. Thanks, best wishes, IEN