Plane Maker Launches New 737-900 Craft -- Boeing Gets $2B in Orders
     Seattle, Nov. 11 - Boeing Co. has collected orders and options
  for about $2 billion in new aircraft, including the first orders
  for its new 737-900.
     Alaska Airlines on Monday became the launch customer for the
 737-900, the largest derivative of Boeing's 737 aircraft family. In
 all, Alaska ordered 15 of the 737s and has taken options for another
 10, worth a total of more than $1 billion, the Seattle-based carrier
 said.
     American Airlines ordered four more Boeing 777s and four 767s.
 It did not announce the value of the purchase, but it would be worth
 between $920 million and $1.04 billion, according to Boeing's price
 list.
          Alaska Buys 'High Volume, Long Haul' Craft
      Alaska's firm orders are for two 737-400s to be delivered in
 1998, three 737-700s for 1999 delivery and 10 737-900s to be de-
 livered in 2001 and 2002.
     "These planes fit nicely into our replacement and growth plans
 as we move into the next century," said John F. Kelly, Alaska's
 chairman and chief executive officer. "And we're proud to launch
 the Boeing 737-900, a design that is a perfect fit for our high
 volume, long haul markets."
      The 737-900s will seat 174 passengers, the 737-400s will have
 174 seats, and the 737-700 will have 122 seats, all in two-cabin
 seating, Alaska said.
      Boeing has been discussing the 737-900 with potential airline
 customers since earlier this year. The plane, which can seat up to
 189 in all-economy configurations, will compete directly with Airbus
 Industries A321, which can carry 185-199 passengers.
      The new 737 will be the ninth and longest version of the air-
 craft that was introduced in 1965. It also will be the fourth of the
 "new-generation" 737s - others are the models -600, -700, and -800 -
 that feature new wings, tails and engines to give the planes higher
 speed, longer range and better fuel economy.
      The 737-900 will be a simple stretch of the model 800, adding
 104 inches to make the aircraft 138 feet, 2 inches long, Boeing said.
 Its range will be about 3,100 miles, about 225 miles less than the
 737-800.
                    American Orders Big New 777s
     With its new planes, American has firm orders for 11 777-200s,
 with nine to be delivered in 1999 and two in 2000. The four new
 767-300ERs will be delivered in 1999 and four others previously
 ordered will join the fleet next year, the airline said.
     The 777s will be increased gross weight aircraft, a long-range
 version of the basic 777 that will be powered by Rolls-Royce Trent
 892 engines.
     In addition to the commercial business, Boeing said Monday it
 had received a $333.4 million contract from the U.S. Air Force to
 provide flight simulators that will allow Air Force pilots in dif-
 ferent locations to train together simultaneously.
     The training equipment will be provided to Eglin Air Force Base
 in Florida and Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, Boeing said.
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               U-2 flights over Iraq pose little risk
          Spy plane a difficult target for missiles to hit
                 By Bob Windrem - NBC NEWS PRODUCER
     Monday's successful U-2 flight over Iraq was one more chapter in
 a 40-year history that has seen very few of the spy planes brought
 down by surface-to-air missiles -- despite efforts by everyone from
 the Cubans to the Vietnamese.
     Interactive Persian Gulf military balance Satellites no match
 for U-2 planes.
     The U-2 flies higher than any other aircraft in the skies
 today. (This is a questionable statement.  I believe a couple of
 SR-71s are still flying. Plus other questionable aircraft.  Jim)
     ASIDE FROM THE shooting of Gary Francis Power's U-2 over the
 Soviet Union on May 3, 1960, only nine other U-2s have been brought
 down by enemy fire.  And of that total, only one was piloted by an
 American.
     "We felt the risk to aircraft was low," said Secretary of Defense
 William Cohen on Monday morning. "It was not impossible for Saddam
 Hussein to have successfully attacked it ... but the mission had to
 go forward and it was successfully completed." (Cohen's combat and
 flying experience are ZERO. He was another college student deferment.
 Jim)
     One reason for Cohen's confidence is that the U-2 flies higher
 than any other aircraft in the skies today; it's capable of reaching
 altitudes substantially above 80,000 feet. Not only is that altitude
 beyond the range of most surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles, but,
 says William E. Burrows of New York University, who has written ex-
 tensively about the U-2, "the fins on the missiles, especially the
 air-to-air missiles, are so small that they cannot make the tight
 turns in the thin air above 50,000 feet."
     The U-2 also possesses the ability to take electronic counter-
 measures, such as jamming radars of ground-based missile batteries,
 while masking the plane's bearing and range. Countermeasures software
 is constantly updated to reflect new knowledge about the capabilities
 of potential enemies.
     All of this, says intelligence historian Jeffrey T. Richelson,
 "makes the U-2 a very survivable aircraft."
     Moreover, Cohen said, U.S. spy satellites have been watching
 movements of Iraqi missile emplacements, enabling U.S. military plan-
 ners to put up a flight plan that avoided the riskiest routes while
 still covering the targets required by the U.N. inspectors.
     "There was no indication there was an active attempt to threaten
 aircraft," said Cohen. "There was some movement of assets by Saddam
 Hussein but none that appeared to pose threat to aircraft." Even if
 a U-2 is hit, it won't necessarily crash. The plane was designed to
 be able to glide long distances even if partially disabled.
     After Powers, the only American U-2 pilot shot down was Maj.
 Rudolph Anderson, who was hit while on a low-level mission over Cuba
 at the height of the missile crisis in October 1962. The remaining
 shoot-downs occurred over China with Taiwanese pilots at the con-
 trols. And no U-2s have been brought down since 1970, when the last
 Taiwanese plane crashed.
--- DB 1.39/004487
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