DoD Aids in Search and Rescue of Hijacked Cuban Plane

 

 By Staff Sgt. Kathleen T. Rhem, USA
 
American Forces Press Service


 WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2000 -- The United States immediately 
 launched several sea and air craft to assist in the search 
 for an allegedly hijacked Cuban plane that crashed early 
 Sept. 19 into the Caribbean south of the Florida Keys.
 
 Early in the afternoon, the Coast Guard reported a civilian 
 boat 180 miles south of Key West, Fla., had picked up nine 
 survivors and the body of one other person believed to be 
 from the plane.
 
 The Cuban Antonov AN-2 Colt passenger plane took off at 
 8:45 a.m. from Pinar del Rio, Cuba. At 9 a.m., Havana 
 Center lost contact with the plane and reported to the 
 Federal Aviation Administration's Miami Center that a 
 hijacking was in progress. Conflicting reports put the 
 number of people on board between 14 and 18. 
 
 Shortly before 10 a.m., the North American Air Defense 
 Command launched two Florida Air National Guard F-15s from 
 the 125th Fighter Wing at Homestead Air Reserve Base, south 
 of Miami, said Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley.
 
 The planes flew to the area to assist if they could, 
 Quigley said. An Airborne Warning and Control System 
 aircraft from 964th Airborne Air Control Squadron at Tinker 
 Air Force Base, Okla., was diverted from a training mission 
 over the United States to proceed to the scene. 
 
 "These aircraft did not make visual or radar contact with 
 the air craft before it splashed down," he said.
 
 The Coast Guard immediately dispatched the 110-foot patrol 
 cutters Monhegan and Nantucket from Key West to where the 
 Cuban aircraft was last seen on FAA radar. A Coast Guard C-
 130 from Air Station Clearwater, Fla., and three HH-65 
 Dolphin helicopters and one HU-25 Falcon jet from Air 
 Station Miami were also dispatched.
 
 The Coast Guard reported four- to six-foot seas and 15- to 
 20-knot winds in the area.
 
 

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