U.S.-German plane collision may have been due to pilot error
     BONN (September 22, 1997 3:09 p.m. EDT) - Pilot error may be to
 blame for a collision between U.S. and German military planes off
 southern Africa nine days ago, Namibian air traffic control head
 Jochen Sell told Germany's Deutschlandfunk radio Monday.
     The flight lieutenant on the German army Tupolev TU-154 did not
 inform the Windhoek flight control center that he had entered
 Namibian air space, Sell said.
     His statement reinforces Namibian claims that the German plane's
 flight plan had not been communicated to them.  Bonn has denied the
 Namibian claims.
     German Defense Minister Volker Ruehe later said flight informa-
 tion, giving details of the plane's altitude and timetable en route
 from Cologne to South Africa, with stops at Niamey and Windhoek,
 had been drawn up.
     Unfortunately, the details arrived in corrupted form at Johan-
 nesburg, which did not automatically send them further on, he said.
     Ruehe said Johannesburg asked for a new telex of the flight
 plan, but that request never reached airport authorities in
 Cologne.
     The defense minister said the inquiry must now concentrate on
 Angola, which he said had still not released recordings of its air
 traffic radio.
     "It is very very important to determine what contact there was
 between the Tupolev and Luanda," he said.
     Sell, in his interview, also said the crew of the U.S. Air Force
 C-141 cargo plane was using a little-used radio frequency that the
 German pilot was unable to pick up.
     German defense ministry spokesman Hans-Dieter Wichter dismissed
 the criticism as "extremely surprising."
     The German military Tupolev TU-154 plane was carrying 24 people
 when it disappeared from radar screens on September 13, while the
 C-141 had nine people on board.
     So far, the only body recovered has been that of a stewardess on
 board the German army plane. The aircraft collided 95 nautical miles
 from the mouth of the river Kunene, on the border between Namibia
 and Angola.
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              American Eagle lawsuit settled before trial
     CHICAGO (September 22, 1997 3:04 p.m. EDT) ---- Families of 68
 people killed three years ago when an American Eagle flight slammed
 into an Indiana farm field settled their lawsuits Monday with the
 airline and manufacturers of the airplane.
     "We are terribly sorry that this happened," American Airlines
 attorney Anton Valukas said as the settlement was announced. "We
 can never compensate you for the loss that you have suffered."
     The exact amount of the settlement was not disclosed immediate-
 ly. In six cases, the monetary award has not been settled yet.
     "It was very fair," said Kim Collins, 36, of Pittsburgh. Her
 sister, Sandi Modaff, was a flight attendant on the plane. "This is
 a sad day. It brought all that back."
     American Eagle Flight 4184, bound from Indianapolis to O'Hare
 International Airport, was in a holding pattern in a freezing rain
 the evening of Oct. 31, 1994, when it suddenly rolled and plunged
 to the ground near Roselawn, Ind. All aboard the French-built
 ATR-72 turboprop died.
     The crash led the National Transportation Safety Board in 1996
 to urge tighter regulations on flights by commuter aircraft in
 icing conditions.
     The NTSB said the flight's crew was not responsible.
     It issued a report blaming French aviation authorities and the
 makers of the aircraft, and said the Federal Aviation Administration
 failed to exert proper authority over the aircraft's maker.
    The board concluded that ATR failed to adequately report previous
 problems encountered by its planes in icy conditions.
    It also blamed the French Directorate General for Civil Aviation
 for failing to oversee the manufacturer and to inform the FAA about
 the airworthiness of the ATR planes in icy conditions as specified
 by international agreements.
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      OLVESTON, Montserrat _ A volcanic avalanche of super-heated ash
 and rock tore through Montserrat's abandoned airport Sunday, ignit-
 ing its wood-frame terminal building and burying parts of the runway
 before racing into the sea.
      The airport, on the eastern coast of this British Caribbean
 colony, was closed days before a June 25 eruption killed 19 people
 less than a mile away.
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