Plane and truck collide at O'Hare
     CHICAGO -- November 7, 1997 10:23 p.m. EST -- A service truck
 collided with a private twin-engine plane at O'Hare International
 Airport on Friday, injuring two people.
     The Beechcraft King Air 90 plane was on a taxiway leading to the
 runway for takeoff when a United Airlines lavatory truck hit it,
 damaging a propeller and the plane's engine, said Monique Bond,
 spokeswoman for the city's Department of Aviation. Nothing spilled
 from the truck, she said.
     The plane was bound for Des Moines, Iowa, Bond said.
  The 44-year-old truck driver was hospitalized in good condition
  with cuts to her head and legs, a nursing supervisor said. Author-
  ities did not release the woman's name.
     The woman was ticketed, Bond said. "She just must not have seen
 the plane and struck it," she said.
     A man who was one of six passengers on the plane was treated at
 the hospital and released.
     National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation
 Administration were investigating the accident.
     Operations at the airport were not affected.
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                  Airplanes may get a class upgrade
     SEATTLE, Washington - November 7, 1997 12:45 p.m. - If you have
 flown with your knees tucked under your chin in a coach-class air-
 line seat, you might be disappointed -- though not surprised -- to
 learn that airlines are using technology to squeeze more revenue out
 of that cramped seat you sometimes occupy.
     However, innovative designers are also finding ways to treat
 their frequent fliers a little bit better. Boeing's Klaus Brauer
 showed off new technology in both categories.
     On the revenue-pumping end was a futuristic-looking row of seats
 that can be rolled back (for more legroom) and pulled out (for a
 wider seat), converting instantly from economy to business class.
                    Interior decorating tricks
     Designers also use age-old interior decorating techniques to
 make passengers feel like they have more space, even when they
 don't. Some passengers said they dislike the crowded economy seat-
 ing on Boeing's 767, calling it the "cattle section."
     In response, Brauer said, Boeing's new 777 will "wash light
 down the aisle," to draw the passenger's eye upward.
     The plane's designers are also relying on making the cabin seem
 bigger by "keeping the side wall as vertical as we can," Brauer
 said.
     For most airline passengers, reality is a seat in the economy
 section, where Brauer admits only cosmetic changes are forecast. But
 he offers the casual traveler advice on winning more personal space.
     "If you're in an airplane like this, with a two-seat unit on the
 outside, what you would prefer to choose is the aisle seat in the
 center section," he said. The reason: those two seats next to the
 window fill up quickly as passengers request window and aisle seats.
     But since the inner seats will be among the last to be filled,
 chances are you will have an empty seat next to you if you choose
 the center aisle.
                 Business travelers will get more room
     Brauer did forecast an elbow room increase for big-bucks business
 travelers. "We're now seeing up to 2 feet more to enable passengers
 to recline fully and sleep in first class," he said.
     "We're seeing carriers with this room in business class on in-
 tercontinental flights. So business class has really upgraded in the
 last few years. And that's a trend we see continuing," he said.
     Future designs are not expected to include the old Pullman-style
 bunk beds. But at least one international airline has found a device
 that comes close: British Airways has installed first-class seats
 that flatten into full-length beds.
     Think of that the next time you squeeze into a center seat in
 the back.
--- DB 1.39/004487
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