Almost Scout Connection to Flt 800
Jon Eidson (eidson@UNIX4.IS.TCU.EDU)
Fri, 19 Jul 1996 16:07:49 -0500
The following was in the Fort Worth paper this week:
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FW Scouts were on Flight 800 in late June
By Leif B. Strickland
Star-Telegram
FORT WORTH -- Billy Joe Gabriel was working in The Stockyards
when he heard that Trans World Airlines Flight 800 had exploded and
plunged into the Atlantic Ocean off Long Island.
The news overwhelmed him.
"When I heard it on the radio, I went outside and threw up," Gabriel said.
Gabriel, an assistant Scoutmaster for a Fort Worth-based troop, traveled
with 35 Boy Scouts to Europe a little more than three weeks ago. After
leaving from Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, the group connected to Flight
800 at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport, then headed to Charles de
Gaulle Airport just outside Paris.
The doomed Flight 800 was to follow the same path Wednesday evening.
Peggy Wilson, whose 14-year-old son, John, accompanied the Scouts to
Europe, was also stunned at the news.
"It's just too close to home," she said. "That could have been my son."
The Boeing 747-100 jet exploded in midair and left radar screens about
7:40 p.m. CDT Wednesday, shortly after departing from Kennedy
Airport.
"I was a little shocked when I found out," said troop member Brent
Skrehart, 16, who attends Paschal High School, along with several other
troop members. "I had to sit down and think about it."
For Charlotte Burrell, mother of Scout Matt Burrell, 14, the crash was a
tragic reminder of the dangers of air travel.
"It's really freaky," she said. "You worry about things like that, but you
never think they'll really happen."
When she first heard of the crash, Burrell feared that the two Flight 800s
might have another similarity -- a group of young people aboard. She
later learned that 16 French Club students from Montoursville, Pa., were
aboard the TWA jet that crashed.
"I just feel for the parents of the kids on that flight," she said. "It just
makes me want to cry."
Officials investigating the cause of the explosion and crash said they
cannot rule out terrorism.
Gabriel said he considered the threat of terrorism while in Europe and in
the air.
"It was clearly on my mind while we were touring Paris," he said.
During the 18-day trip, the Boy Scouts and four adult sponsors toured
France, Italy and Switzerland before returning to North Texas on Sunday.
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Jon Eidson (J.Eidson@tcu.edu) Information Services
Senior Systems Programmer Texas Christian University
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