the crash itself was the subject of much controversy. originally claimed to have happened in the adriatic itself, subsequent news stories slowly but surely moved the wreckage from sea to hilltop. russian, french and croatian tv reported the recovery of the black box recorders. u.s. sources denied it and said that only some instrumentation that looked exactly like the recorders were recovered. the flight recorders on aircraft are designed to be unique in appearance. they cannot be confused for any other item on the aircraft. despite the name "black box" they are actually bright dayglow orange with black stripes and very clear labels saying what they are. all commercial models of that aircraft come with flight recorders. but the government claims that this aircraft, used for vips including hillary only two weeks previously, had no such standard safety systems. on one thing all the news stories did agree. the claim was put forward repeatedly that the plane crashed in, "the worst storm in a decade". this was the exact wording used by time, newsweek, and the white house in describing the accident. however, the dubrovnik airport weather office told a different story. the official weather report issued at the time of the crash reported light scattered rain, broken clouds at 400 feet, a thin overcast at 2000 feet, and a steady head wind right down the runway just the way pilots like it. the reported visibility was 5 miles. he flight crew acknowledged receiving this weather report (more about that later). the distance from the airport to where the aircraft crashed was less than two miles. storms, or to be more precise, the weather systems that produce storms, are easily recognized features. the updrafts that create a hazard for flying will push a column of clouds up to 20,000 feet for a regular storm, and up to 33,000 feet whereupon a "super cycle" sets in and a major storm, complete with lightening, is underway.
United States