Air Force continues to ground F-117s; search for C-141 ended
     WASHINGTON - September 26, 1997 5:33 p.m. EDT -- The Air Force,
 still without an explanation for the crash of an F-117 stealth figh-
 ter, said Friday it will keep all such warplanes grounded until an
 answer is found.
     "This is a prudent measure until the cause of the accident can
 be identified and corrected," an Air Force statement said.
     One of the high-tech planes broke apart and crashed during an
 air show Sept. 14 at Middle River, Md., setting two houses on fire
 and injuring six people. The pilot ejected safely.
     The remaining 53 fighters, which are based with the 49th Fighter
 Wing at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, suspended routine
 flights the next day.
     "We'll keep them down until we find out what caused the inci-
 dent," said an Air Force spokesman, Capt. Leo Devine. "Safety is
 our top concern."
     An investigation board has been studying the crash. Maintenance
 experts from the Air Force and the manufacturer are also involved.
     Amateur video showed a piece of the aircraft, apparently from
 the tail or a wing, flying off before the wedge-shaped jet went
 into a slow spin and crashed.
     Meanwhile, the U.S. Atlantic Command, based in Norfolk, Va.,
 announced it has called off the search and rescue mission for sur-
 vivors from an Air Force C-141 transport and a German military
 TU-154, both of which disappeared off the coast of Africa on
 Sept. 13.
     An announcement said officials have concluded "with regret,
 based upon the exhaustive efforts of the multinational forces in-
 volved in the search and rescue, that there are no survivors to
 this tragic event."
     The Air Force C-141 transport was flying from Namibia with
 nine Americans aboard and apparently collided with the German
 military plane. In all, 33 were believed killed.
     Those incidents were followed by a string of other crashes,
 prompting Defense Secretary William Cohen to order all military
 services to suspend flights for 24 hours and go over safety pro-
 cedures, a practice known as a "stand down."
     The Air Force suspended training flights for combat air crews
 at domestic bases Monday, while other commands held their stand
 downs at various times during the past week.
     The Air Force had planned a service-wide halt of training
 flights for Friday, but its Air Combat Command, which operates
 all fighters and bombers at domestic bases, decided to move its
 up to Monday after one of its B-1 bombers crashed last week in
 Montana.
     Despite the recent crashes, the Air Force's overall safety
 record for the past year has been one of its best ever.
     It was the first-ever suspension of all military pilot training.
 Cohen's order did not affect operational flights such as those over
 Iraq and in support of Bosnia peacekeeping.
 -------------------------------------------
       Trial exposes pilots' tradition of porn in the cockpit
     NEWARK, N.J.-September 26, 1997 3:51 p.m. EDT -- For years, air-
 line pilots have been leaving little surprises in the cockpit for
 the next crew - dirty pictures slipped into flight manuals, hidden
 behind equipment panels and stuffed into seatbacks.
     The practice was usually good for laughs back when pilots were
 an all-male fraternity and flight attendants were known as
 stewardesses.
     Nowadays, though, the practice is at the center of a lawsuit by
 a woman pilot who is suing Continental Airlines for sexual
 harassment.
     "It's like hanging up a 'men's only' sign on the occupation,"
 said Francine Moccio, director of Cornell University's Institute for
 Women and Work. "The playing field has changed. What was a big,
 funny joke 20 years ago is now illegal."
     Capt. Tammy S. Blakey, who is seeking unspecified damages,
 accuses Continental of failing to keep cockpits free of pornographic
 pictures glued to the bottom of drawers, behind panels marked with
 an X, and in flight manuals.
     She testified at the trial, which began Sept. 10 in federal
 court in Newark, that her complaints prompted the company to retal-
 iate by questioning her attendance record, sending her to the com-
 pany psychiatrist and forcing her to take extra qualifying tests.
     She also said male pilots got back at her by scrawling her name
 on graphic photos, including one of a naked woman penetrated sexually
 with a bloody saber.
     Houston-based Continental says Blakey's complaints began only
 after her chedule changed in 1991 and after the company raised con-
 erns about poor attendance. The airline says it responded promptly
 and alerted pilots that offensive material was banned from cockpits.
     Moccio, who is not involved in the Blakey case, said the scenario
 painted by Blakey is similar to those in other male-dominated fields
 such as construction, the military, and police and fire departments.
     "What's happening is that the customs and traditions of the men
 in that occupation are tough to resist change," Moccio said. "They
 say, 'Why should we change for just a handful?"'
     Women accounted for just 2.6 percent, or 3,346, of the nation's
 127,486 airline pilots in 1996, more than double their number in
 1987, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
     Blakey, 38, of Arlington, Wash., was hired in 1984. In 1990 she
 became the first woman at Continental to attain the rank of captain
 of an Airbus A300, a jet that carries up to 272 passengers, she
 testified.
     Blakey has been on unpaid leave since mid-1993. She says she
 wanted to come back in 1994 after her daughter was born. But the
 company says she made no effort to return.
     Male pilots do not dispute that pornography was standard cock-
 pit fare in the industry, but claim it was done discreetly and is
 now disappearing.
     A senior pilot at Newark-based Kiwi International Air Lines,
 speaking on condition of anonymity, recalled that when he worked at
 the now-failed Eastern Airlines, women pilots would swap the girlie
 pictures with beefcake shots of men.
     The president of Women in Aviation International, a pilots group
 based in Alexandria, Ohio, said the atmosphere is getting better for
 women.
     "Overall, the industry attitude is very positive," Peggy Baty
 said. "The incident at Continental is certainly an isolated case from
 my understanding and people I talk to."
     That sentiment is not shared by Amanda Butler, a former flight
 attendant for Continental Express, who is suing that airline and
 parent Continental, charging they failed to respond adequately to
 her sexual harassment complaint.
     Butler, 26, of Houston, is also suing a pilot, Rainer E. Krebs,
 accusing him of superimposing a photograph of her face on pictures
 of nude and bikini-clad women in 1995, then showing the computer
 images to pilots in the cockpit.
     The defendants in that lawsuit, which could come to trial in
 federal court in Houston next year, admit Krebs superimposed
 Butler's face onto the body of a woman in a swimsuit, but deny her
 other allegations.
     Butler flew for Continental Express in 1995 and 1996, when she
 quit. She said racy pictures were still available to pilots.
     "I had seen it in the cockpit," Butler said Friday. "What hap-
 pened to me was a little bit different, in that I actually became
 the pornography."
 -------------
--- DB 1.39/004487
---------------