Covenant News

Special Helicopter to Aid Search for Crash Clues

PITTSBURGH, PA (September 13, 2001) - The FBI is hoping to use a Carnegie Mellon University robot helicopter to map the crater 80 miles east of Pittsburgh created when a hijacked commercial airliner crashed Tuesday after being seized by terrorists, Covenant News Service has learned.

Federal investigators plan to use the special helicopter to make 3-D color maps of the crash site, according to Chuck Thorpe, director of the university's Robotics Institute and a member of Stoneridge Covenant Church in nearby Allison Park.

Thorpe, a graduate of North Park College (now University), said the six-foot helicopter is capable of creating a computer image accurate to within two inches. That will help investigators better determine how the plane crashed and assist in retrieval of pieces of the wreckage. Global satellites will help direct the helicopter to the appropriate positions required for the investigation.

Thorpe told family members the robotic helicopter likely will become most useful after investigators clear major debris from the crash site.

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