Miscommunication preceded Indonesian air crash
     MEDAN, Indonesia - September 29, 1997 11:45 a.m. EDT - The pilot
 and air traffic controller confused the words "left" and"right"
 seconds before the crash of an Indonesian jetliner that killed all
 234 people aboard, according to a transcript of the plane's final
 radio conversation obtained today.
     Investigators say they have not determined the cause of Friday's
 crash of the Garuda Airlines Airbus. However, the transcript shows
 the pilot and the air traffic controller miscommunicated over di-
 rections as the plane approached Medan's airport in thick haze
 caused by hundreds of forest fires on the island of Sumatra.
     The final seconds of the conversation showed repeated misunder-
 standing about which direction the pilot was turning the jetliner
 and what the air traffic controller was telling him.
     Control tower: "Turn right heading 046 report established local-
 izer (the controller's command means that the plane should align
 itself with the localizer, the radio beam from the runway that in-
 dicates the runway's location).
     Pilot: "Turning right sir."
     Control tower: "152 Confirm you're making turning left now?"
     Pilot: "We are turning right now."
     Control: "OK you continue turning left now."
     Pilot: A (pause) "confirm turning left?  We are starting turning
 right now."
     Control: "OK (pause) OK. Continue turn right heading 015."
     That command was immediately followed by the pilot's scream in
 Arabic, the language of Islam, Indonesia's predominant religion:
 "Allahu akbar" (God is great).
     At that moment, according to witnesses, the 15-year-old, twin-
 engine plane smashed into trees and exploded.
     The veteran pilot, Rachmo Wiyogo, had clocked 15,000 flying
 hours and was being considered for a job as a flight instructor,
 Garuda has said.
     An airport official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said
 the plane's instruments could have indicated where the runway was,
 and that the 100-yard visibility caused by the haze should not have
 been a factor.
     "The smoke is not a strange problem for a pilot," the Garuda
 pilots' union chief, Shadrach Nababan, said Monday. "There are
 instruments on the airplane and at the airport that can be used."
     However, he said, "it's obvious that the plane was flying too
 low and left the flight path."
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            Airbus won't extend deadline for US Airways
     PARIS - September 29, 1997 10:04 a.m. EDT - Airbus Industrie
 said Monday it would not extend Tuesday's deadline to give US Air-
 ways more time to conclude a labor agreement needed to confirm a $5
 billion order for Airbus jets.
     US Airways Group Inc. signed a memorandum of understanding with
 Airbus last November to buy 120 Airbus narrow-body jets and take
 options for a further 280.
     The deal, worth $5 billion based on list prices, was conditional
 on the U.S. company reaching a cost-cutting agreement with its
 pilots.
     "There is no chance of extending the MOU," an Airbus spokesman
 said.
     A European industry source said Airbus would have to keep deliv-
 ery positions open for US Airways if it extended its memorandum of
 understanding, but that posed problems in view of firm orders from
 other airlines.
     Airbus did not want to turn away other orders just to maintain
 those delivery commitments and it was unclear how long any extension
 should be, the source said. There was no guarantee there would be a
 labor agreement at the end of a longer negotiation period.
     "It looks like the negotiations will go right down to the wire,"
 the source said.
     US Airways and its pilots' union continued negotiations through-
 out the weekend, but no agreement had been reached as of Sunday, a
 spokesman for the union said.
     US Airways declined to comment.
     "Negotiations over the last couple of days have shown progress
 on some key issues. Important job security issues are currently
 under discussion," the pilots union told members in a recorded
 message.
      Progress continues to be made, but the "goal continues to be
 the total package," the Air Line Pilots Association said on Sunday.
      Airbus and its U.S. rival Boeing Co. are racing to keep up with
 large aircraft orders as world-wide demand for new planes is strong.
      The US Airways requirement is for 120 Airbus aircraft of the
 A319, A320 and A321 type. It has said it is also looking to buy
 wide-body aircraft such as Boeing's 777 twin-jet or the Airbus A330.
      Airbus is a consortium made up of state-owned Aerospatiale of
 France, British Aerospace PLC, German's Daimler-Benz Aerospace AG
 and Construcciones Aeronauticas (Casa) of Spain.
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