IU remembers victim of doomed Air France flight

[IndianaGreen]

IU remembers victim of doomed Air France flight

Updated: June 2, 2009 10:50 PM EDT

David MacAnally/Eyewitness News


Fatma Necipoglu earned her Masters
degree from IU in 2001.

Bloomington - The Indiana University School of Music is mourning one of their own, lost on an Air France jet that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.

American aircraft joined the search for the jet's wreckage Tuesday. While searchers spotted debris in the ocean, there is no sign of the 228 people on board, including IU grad Fatma Necipoglu.

Known as "Cherin" at the university, Necipoglu earned a Masters in Music in 2001. Her loss is a lead story in her native Turkey. She was returning from a national harp event.

"She was a delightful student, charming girl, beautiful girl. Gifted and talented," said harp department chair at IU, Susann McDonald. "Although she was a quiet, unassuming, modest girl, she played the harp with great intensity and musical flair. I was so proud of her. She was realizing everything you could hope for."

While the campus remembers one of it's own, one of the university's air safety experts says it's too early to say what brought the plane down.

Expert Clint Oster says the shock of a lightning strike on a passenger like the Airbus 330 "typically upsets the passengers when it happens, but it's something the planes are designed to accommodate. It's not particularly unusual."

http://www.wthr.com/global/story.asp?s=10468150