Small plane crashes in Arctic Ocean
     ANCHORAGE, Alaska - November 8, 1997 10:29 p.m. EST -- A single-
 engine plane carrying a family of seven bound for a funeral slammed
 into the Arctic Ocean Saturday off Alaska's North Slope.
     The pilot and all seven family members were killed.
     The plane crashed two minutes after takeoff from Barrow, the
 nation's most northern city, 725 miles northwest of Anchorage.
     The plane was taking the family to the tiny village of Wain-
 wright, 90 miles southwest of Barrow. The casket was on board.
     North Slope Borough officials said the nine-seater plane owned
 by Hageland Aviation departed at 8:04 a.m. and was located by search
 and rescue teams within 20 minutes.
     Elise Patkotak, borough spokeswoman, said crews worked into the
 afternoon to try hoisting the plane to the beach without creating
 more fragments. No ice has formed yet near shore.
     Salvage teams fixed a cable around the plane and used an onshore
 winch to aul up the plane from its resting place 100 yards offshore.
 Wreckage was ubmerged in 16 feet of water, Patkotak said.
     "They're trying to winch it up just the same way as with a
 whale," she said. Native hunters take bowheads at sea and then haul
 the carcass to shore for butchering.
     Salvage work was called off Saturday night to permit federal
 safety investigators to inspect the aircraft in place.
     It was the second Hageland Grand Caravan lost in the Arctic Ocean
 since April 10, when a plane carrying five people crashed nose-first
 into ice near Wainwright. There were no survivors.
     Patkotak said Saturday's plane had been spotted going into the
 water and authorities were notified immediately. Wainwright is about
 90 miles southwest of Barrow.
     The National Weather Service reported relatively clear conditions
 Saturday with scattered clouds at 14,000 feet and seven miles
 visibility.
     Word of downed planes galvanizes the North Slope's isolated
 towns, where commuter planes are relied on for short hops to neigh-
 boring villages.
     The wreck in April killed the Barrow-based pilot and four North
 Slope Borough employees, including the former Wainwright mayor.
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             Top Iraqi leader vows to open fire on U-2s
    A top Iraqi official says his country will not hesitate to shoot
 down American U-2 reconnaissance planes if they fly over Iraqi
 airspace.
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           Continental Europe's busiest airport improves
      Frankfurt opens expanded terminal, plans other renovations
     FRANKFURT, Germany November 7, 1997 2:16 p.m. EST (1916 GMT) --
 Hardly anybody goes to Frankfurt. But millions of travelers pass
 through Frankfurt's international airport each year on their way to
 someplace else.
     After Friday's opening of a terminal expansion that links the
 airport's two main terminals and makes docking room for about 10
 more airliners, the transit will become easier than ever.
     Passengers will have fewer tarmac boardings and can more easily
 dash between terminals at continental Europe's busiest airport,
 which also has evolved into a shopping and entertainment center.
     Airport officials hope the improvements, and others planned,
 will allow the estimated 40 million passengers passing through the
 airport this year to increase to 60 million by 2005.
     A recent cargo facility project also should net new commercial
 business for Europe's No. 1 air-freight center.
     Hessian state Finance Minister Lothar Klemm says Federal Express
 wants to add hundreds of employees at Frankfurt, something the com-
 pany's spokesmen in Frankfurt declined to confirm or deny.
                          Improving service
   The Frankfurt airport, which in recent years has been growing much
 more slowly than those in London and Paris, is aiming to strengthen
 its position as Europe's premier travel hub.
     But airport officials say they're not out to eclipse London's
 Heathrow, which accommodated 57 million passengers in the past year.
     "We are more concerned with quality than quantity," Frankfurt
 airport spokesman Wolfgang Schwalm said.
     "We can guarantee that passengers make connecting flights inside
 of 45 minutes, which has always been the fastest for Europe's big
 airports. We're trying to reduce that to 35 minutes."
                      But there are constraints.
      One is a shortage of space, which airport officials hope to
 overcome through high-tech measures that would allow more planes to
 take off and land per day. Airport expansion in the early 1980s was
 strongly opposed by neighbors and led to violent demonstrations.
                          Then there's noise.
     The prospect of more Federal Express jets has worried the
 Commission for Protection Against Flight Noise, a citizen's group.
 Chairman Richard Mueller said he's concerned especially about noise
 at night, even if modern, quieter jets are used.
     A plane is only quiet, said Mueller, "when it's standing parked
 at the airport with its engines off."
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