U.S. radar warning systems to be checked following KAL crash
     WASHINGTON (August 12, 1997 01:34 a.m. EDT) -- Radar installa-
 tions across the country are being tested to make sure they don't
 contain the flaw that prevented controllers from warning the pilot
 of KAL Flight 801 that he was too low.
     Calling the step a precaution, the Federal Aviation Administra-
 tion on Monday ordered that the nation's approximately 200 Minimum
 Safe Altitude Warning systems be tested within two days.
     The systems are designed to issue an alert if an aircraft ap-
 proaching an airport is flying too low. Air traffic controllers can
 then warn the pilot to climb.
     The National Transportation Safety Board reported Sunday that
 an error apparently was inserted into the Guam system's computer
 software during an overhaul and it was not working at the time of
 the Korean Air accident, which killed 226 people. Officials are not
 sure when the mistake was introduced or whether there were similar
 errors in radar software at other airports.
     Investigators say the faulty system did not cause last week's
 crash, but they believe a properly working system could have allowed
 controllers to direct the pilot of the Boeing 747 to pull the jumbo
 jet to a higher altitude as he approached Guam International Airport.
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     AGANA, Guam (Aug. 11) ---- The investigation at the site of a
 Korean Air jet crash in Guam is nearly over, federal agents said
 today, and families prepared to take victims' bodies home to South
 Korea.
     Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board say
 they are months away from figuring out what caused Wednesday's crash,
 which killed 226 people. But they have found that an airport warning
 system that might have prevented the accident was no  working at the
 time of the crash.
     Much of the crash data already has been to Washington for
 analysis.
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   Palestinian sentenced to 20 years for hijacking plane to Miami
     MIAMI (August 12, 1997 00:28 a.m. EDT) ----- A Palestinian who
 brandished scissors and a fake bomb in hijacking a Cuba-bound plane
 to Miami last year was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison.
     The defendant, Sadd'o Mohammed Ibrahim Intissar, 28, could have
 been sentenced to life. He must serve about 17 years of his sentence
 before he can be paroled.
     Ibrahim testified during his April 25 trial that he was not a
 terrorist and that he was fleeing from poverty. He was one of 17
 children in a family that grew up in a Palestinian shantytown.
     He was convicted of hijacking an Iberia Airlines jumbo jet en
 route from Madrid to Havana with 286 people aboard on July 26,
 1996. Ibrahim threatened a flight attendant with a blade from a
 pair of scissors, then pulled out a fake bomb. No one was injured,
 and the plane landed safely in Miami.
    Ibrahim's attorney noted that in several air-piracy cases in-
 volving Cubans hijacking planes to Florida during which shots were
 fired, the defendants had been put on probation without having to
 go to prison.
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   Investigators say Guam airport approach a challenge for the eyes
     AGANA, Guam (August 12, 1997 07:28 a.m. EDT) -- Pilots who have
 flown into Guam's airport say the unlit, rolling hillside where a
 Korean Air jet crashed last week can easily be mistaken for clouds
 during stormy weather, investigators said Tuesday.
     Federal agents have been interviewing pilots familiar with Guam
 International Airport as part of the probe into the deadly crash
 last Wednesday.
     Top investigator Gregory Feith of the National Transportation
 Safety Board said that even the most experienced flight crews found
 night approaches over the hillside in bad weather tricky.
     "The rolling hills sometimes look like clouds," he said.
     Black said radar data on the weather the night of the crash
 showed heavy rain, but not especially treacherous conditions.
     "There was no indication of ... severe turbulence or wind
 shear," he said.
     The investigation on the crash site in Guam is finished, and the
 work will now move to Washington, where officials will analyze the
 data.
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