POMONA, N.J. (Sept. 17) - Two Air National Guard fighter jets on
 routine training flights collided Tuesday night off the coast of New
 Jersey. The pilot of one F-16 managed to land safely while the Coast
 Guard rescued the two pilots of the other plane from the ocean,
 officials said.
      The crash occurred about 60 miles southeast of Atlantic City
 over the Atlantic Ocean, said Maj. Roger Pharo, with the Air
 National Guard's 177th Fighter Wing.
     One pilot was able to fly his severely damaged one-seat F-16 to
 the Fighter Wing at Atlantic City International Airport, Pharo said.
 He did not know if the pilot was injured.
     The pilot had kept the parachutes of the other two pilots in
 sight after they had ejected from their two-seat F-16, said Coast
 Guard Lt. Bill Green.
     One airman suffered a head gash and a bruised pelvis. The other
 suffered minor injuries. Both were treated at Atlantic City Medical
 Center.
     No other planes were involved in the training flight, said Lt.
 Col. John Dwyer, public affairs officer for the New Jersey National
 Guard. The cause of the accident was under investigation.
     The collision was the fifth military air accident since Saturday
 when a U.S. Air Force C-141 transport plane flying from Namibia
 apparently collided with a German military plane off the coast
 of Africa.
     On Sunday, an Air Force F-117A stealth fighter flying at an air
 show near a Baltimore suburb crashed into a residential area after
 a piece of the plane broke off. The pilot ejected safely. Also Sun-
 day, a U.S. Navy FA-18 crashed in Oman, killing the pilot.
     On Monday, a Marine FA-18D Hornet fighter jet crashed in North
 Carolina's Pamlico Sound during a practice bombing run, killing the
 two pilots.
     The Pentagon said Tuesday the overall flight safety record is
 good and is generally improving.
     In February off the southern New Jersey coast, two F-16 fighter
 pilots also with the Air National Guard's 177th Fighter Wing tailed
 a civilian jetliner so closely that the passenger plane took emer-
 gency evasive action.
     Both planes had clearance to fly through restricted airspace.
     For several minutes, the pilot of the Nations Air Boeing 727
 went into steep dives and climbs to avoid colliding with the unarmed
 F-16 in a cloudy sky. The plane had 77 passengers and a crew of
 seven. Two flight attendants and a passenger were thrown to the
 floor.
 09-17-97 0037EDT
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                        Pilot killed in Oman crash
     An undated photo was shown of Lt. Jason E. Jakubowski, who was
 killed in an F/A-18 Hornet crash in Oman on Sunday, Sept. 14. The
 Navy said that Jakubowski, flying a Jacksonville, Fla., based jet,
 was on a training exercise. Jakubowski listed his hometown as
 Grasonville, Md.
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     Two bodies recovered from Marine jet crash in North Carolina
     CHERRY POINT, N.C. (September 17, 1997 05:15 a.m. EDT) -- Rescue
 crews Tuesday recovered the bodies of both Marines on board a figh-
 ter jet that crashed in shallow waters during a training mission.
     The Marines were identified as Capt. Brian Smith, 28, of Nash-
 ville, Tenn., the pilot, and Capt. Stephen S. McDonald, 30, of
 Sugarland, Texas, the weapons and sensor officer aboard the FA-18D
 Hornet.
     The plane crashed in the Piney Island Bombing Range off Cedar
 Island Monday night.
     The two-seat fighter was one of three Hornets from Marine
 Fighter Attack Squadron 224 at Beaufort, S.C., participating in the
 night bombing drill at the range, the Marine Corps said.
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       dverse weather shuts down Minneapolis airport
     September 16, 1997 - 9:32 p.m. EDT (0132 GMT) - Thunderstorms
 rolled across the upper Midwest with high wind and hail Tuesday,
 twice shutting down the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport.
     Minneapolis had wind gusting to more than 50 mph, and severe
 thunderstorms forced authorities to shut down the Minneapolis-St.
 Paul International Airport twice.  Hundreds of travelers on 11
 planes spent several hours at the Fargo, North Dakota, airport and
 at least 21 other planes were diverted to Rochester, Minnesota,
 Grand Forks, North Dakota, and Sioux Falls and Rapid City in
 South Dakota.
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