Three of four engines fail on British royal plane
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     LONDON - November 18, 1997 8:29 p.m. EST - Britain's Royal Air
 Force has launched an urgent internal inquiry after a plane used by
 the royal family and cabinet ministers was forced to make an
 emergency landing with three failed engines.
     Defense officials said on Tuesday that faulty maintenance pro-
 cedures were believed to be responsible for the incident on a train-
 ing flight earlier this month of the four-engined BAe 146 of the
 Royal Squadron.
    No one was injured when a trainee pilot and an instructor managed
 to land the plane.
    But the Royal Air Force said it was taking the incident extremely
 seriously and has changed its maintenance procedures.
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                 FAA getting tough on 'air rage'
     November 19, 1997 02:06 a.m. EST - The skies aren't so friendly
 anymore. Alarmed at the growing trend of passenger "air rage," sev-
 eral federal agencies have announced a get-tough policy.
     Mess with a flight attendant these days and Mom won't be the
 only one meeting you at the gate.The welcoming committee will in-
 clude cops and the FBI, and the hospitality suite might be a jail
 cell.
     Passengers better mind their manners and behave, or face federal
 prosecution and civil fines, according to U.S. Attorney Michael
 Yamaguchi of San Francisco.
     Toss a bag of peanuts at the flight attendant, sneak a smoke in
 the john, throw a punch at a fellow passenger or -- true story --
 head-butt the copilot, and by the time the plane lands, the pilot
 will have notified the control tower to summon the FBI agents newly
 assigned to the airport.
     Unruly passengers can cause a disaster in the air, said Robert
 Walsh, special agent in charge of the FBI's San Francisco office.
 "This is a zero-tolerance program."
     Assault cases and other incidents that threaten flight safety
 will be prosecuted, said Yamaguchi. These passengers face 20 years
 imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Other, less dangerous cases will
 be handled by the Federal Aviation Administration, which will in-
 vestigate all complaints and has the clout to impose civil
 penalties.
     The nation's angriest passengers, according to Gerald Moore, an
 FAA official who monitors air carrier security, are in the New York
 City area.
     The FAA has already taken action. In a recently launched pilot
 program at seven airports, including San Francisco's, the FAA has
 monitored 73 cases within the past year, imposed $117,000 in civil
 penalties and pushed for federal prosecution in most of the cases,
 said Moore.
     Accurate statistics on the number of incidents involving "inter-
 erence with crew," a federal offense, are hard to come by since air-
 lines have not been reporting them consistently. The FAA received
 269 complaints within the past two years, said spokesman Roland
 Herwig.
     But the perception is that air rage is not only on the rise, but
 becoming more heated, officials said.
     On one airline carrier that diligently monitored the trend with-
 in the past year, passenger interference cases went up 400 percent,
 from 33 incidents to 140, said Mary Kay Hanke, a vice president with
 the Association of Flight Attendants, a union with 41,000 members in
 27 cities.
     Flight attendants have been "hit, kicked and injured," she said.
 They've been cursed at. They've had hot coffee deliberately poured
 on them. They've had their lives threatened. They've wrestled with
 passengers with excessive carry-on luggage.  They've had arguments
 with passengers who refuse to put on their seat belts or put out
 their cigarettes. They've even had to deal with passengers who
 insisted on joining the pilot in the cockpit, she said.
     What accounts for the seeming increase in air rage is uncertain.
 Cabin fever occurs more frequently on flights lasting four hours or
 more, said Moore, the FAA official. And drunkenness seems to play a
 significant role, too, he said.
     Larger planes which hold more passengers in confined quarters,
 and a cutback in services may also have added to the stress, said
 Hanke.
     "Flying is not the pleasant experience it once was," she said.
 "Flying is a stressful experience for many passengers."
     In a study conducted by the Air Transport Association, a trade
 group representing airlines, 25 percent of the incidents were alco-
 hol-related, said Hanke.
     Sixteen percent were about seat assignments, 10 percent were
 smoking-related, 9 percent were about carry-on bags, 8 percent were
 the attendant's attitude and 5 percent were food service.
     And the rest, she said, defied explanation.
--- DB 1.39/004487
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