SMYRNA, Tenn. -- The jet that crashed in the Azores Wednesday, killing all 145 people aboard, passed its last inspection without problems two months ago, according to the Tennessee-based charter flight service that leased the Boeing 707.
The jet, carrying 138 Italian tourists and seven American crew members, slammed into the mountainous island of Santa Maria on a flight from Bergamo, Italy, to the Dominican Republic.
'It was one of our aircraft,' said Al Pittman, president of Independent Air Corp. in Smyrna. 'I'm shocked. We have not had a serious accident before this, and of course, it hurts us all.'
The doomed jet's last maintainance inspection was in December 1988 in Smyrna at a Federal Aviation Administration-approved facility, Pittman said. At that time, the jet checked out OK, he said.
In Atlanta, FAA spokesman Jack Barker said Independent Air had a clean safety record as far as officials were able to determine Wednesday.
Independent Air released the names of the seven crew members Wednesday. They were Capt. Leon Daugherty, 41, of Nashville, the pilot; Sammy Adcock, 36, of Nashville, the first officer; Jorge Gonzalez, 34, of Rex, Ga., the engineer; and flight attendants Yvette Murray, 26, of Marietta, Ga., Angela Urban, 24, of West Palm Beach, Fla., Helen Ziegler, 45, of Warner Robbins, Ga., and Sabrina Cromarty, age unknown, of Atlanta.
Pittman said authorities in the Azores confirmed that all 145 people aboard the jet were killed.
'The Azores authorities have just sent us a communique. They tell us the airplane is totally destroyed and that the wreckage and bodies are spread over 100 meters,' he said.
Pittman said the Boeing 707 was appraching the Santa Maria airport for a re-fueling stop and had been cleared to descend to 3,000 feet when the control tower lost contact with the airliner.
'No distress signals were sent from the airplane, and no radio traffic indicated any problems,' Pittman said.
The crash was reported by a private citizen who 'called the airport, said he saw the plane go down, heard a big bang and saw smoke,' Pittman said.
Pittman said the jet slammed into the side of a volcanic mountain.
Independent Air operates two planes, both Boeing 707s, and both were leased by the company from International Air Leasing of Miami, Pittman said.
The flight from Bergamo to the Dominican Republic was organized by Flamingo Tours of Bergamo, and Independent Air had been flying the route for about three months, Pittman said.
Pittman said his firm has 60 employees and has been in business for 15 years. He acquired the company in 1985 and moved its headquarters from Atlanta to Smyrna.
'We operate all around the world, primarily carrying tourists to sun spots,' he said.
The plane that crashed had recently been chartered on a trip to the Cayman Islands by the Nashville advertising firm of Gish, Sherwood and Friends.
'I've got a lot of bias for that airline because my dear friends run it and I'm on the board of directors, but I know that they have an unbelievably strong reputation for maintenance and care of their planes,' said Dale Gish, owner of the advertising firm.
'We are all praying that the pilots and crew that we know were not the ones on that plane,' Gish said. 'They are all professionals above reproach.'
