John Denver's plane crashed after running out of gas
    SAN FRANCISCO - November 19, 1997 1:35 p.m. EST -- A plane flown
 by singer John Denver crashed into Monterey Bay when it ran out of
 gas, an investigator from the National Transportation Safety Board
 told KRON-TV.
    The television station reported Wednesday that NTSB investigators
 said Denver had tried to switch from one fuel tank to another. He
 never completed the switch. But investigators say that didn't matter
 because both tanks were empty.
    George Petterson, the NTSB's lead investigator for the case in
 Los Angeles, would not comment Wednesday to The Associated Press.
 A final NTSB report is not expected for months.
    The 53-year-old singer was practicing takeoffs and landings when
 his plane nose-dived into Monterey Bay on Oct. 12. Denver was killed
 instantly.
    Investigators retrieved several pieces of the privately built
 LongEz aircraft, including the small plane's 150-horsepower, 200-
 pound engine.
    The Federal Aviation Administration had pulled Denver's medical
 certificate, which is required to fly with a pilot's license, in
 June 1996 because of his two drunken driving arrests. But tests
 found no drugs or alcohol in his system.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
      Iraq 'trap' cited as more U.S. warplanes head to Gulf
     WASHINGTON - November 19, 1997 2:04 p.m. EST -- U.S. warplanes,
 newly ordered to the Persian Gulf region, began heading that way on
 Wednesday after the Pentagon warned that Iraqi President Saddam
 Hussein has his air defense forces on a heightened state of alert
 and may be trying to set surface-to-air missile "traps" for
 American pilots.
     Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon cited the concern on Tuesday as
 one reason President Clinton was expanding U.S. air power in the
 region -- dispatching six F-117 stealth fighters and six B-52 stra-
 tegic bombers.
                   Backup aircraft announced
     The president also authorized Gen. Anthony Zinni, commander of
 the U.S. Central Command, which operates all U.S. forces in the
 Gulf area, to send 32 other Air Force warplanes to Bahrain if he
 decides they are needed.
         Air Force officials said on Wednesday these would be:
    2  B-1 bombers from Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota.
    12 F-15 Eagle strike fighters from Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.
    12 F-16 fighters from Moody Air Force Base, Georgia.
    6  F-16 fighters from Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina.
     The Air Force also said nine refueling aircraft from Fairchild
 Air Force Base, Washington, and other bases would go to the Gulf
 instead of the four announced on Tuesday.
                    F-117s and B-52s en route
     The radar-evading F-117s departed Holloman Air Force Base, New
 Mexico, on Wednesday morning en route to Langley Air Force Base,
 Virginia, where they were to spend the night before departing
 Thursday for Kuwait.
     The B-52s, from Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, are to de-
 ploy to Diego Garcia, a British territory in the Indian Ocean that
 is within striking distance of Iraq. They will fly nonstop -- about
 28 hours -- refueling in flight.
     The United States already has about 120 Air Force planes in the
 Gulf -- mainly in Saudi Arabia -- plus a combination of about 150
 planes aboard two aircraft carriers in the area.
                       Iraqi missile trap?
     Bacon said Zinni was particularly concerned that Iraq might set
 air defense traps for the American pilots patrolling a "no-fly" zone
 over southern Iraq. He said Iraq could use a mixture of surface-to-
 air missile targeting systems to lure a U.S. plane into a position
 where it could get shot down.
     In January 1993, similar charges led to a series of U.S. air-
 strikes against air defense facilities in southern Iraq.
     With two aircraft carriers and about 300 warplanes either in the
 region or on the way, the United States is now in position to carry
 out a sustained bombing campaign against Iraq -- if it comes to that.
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
             Three groups ready to buy state-owned El Al
     TEL AVIV, - 20 November 1997 (23:47 GMT) - Israeli Transport
 Minister Yitzhak Levy said on Wednesday that three groups were will-
 ing to buy state-owned El Al Israel Airlines even if it did not fly
 on the Jewish Sabbath or holidays.
     "The Transport Ministry has received proposals from at least
 three companies interested in buying El AL with all its restrict-
 ions, including the ban on Sabbath flights," the Transport Ministry
 said in a statement quoting Levy.
     Speaking at a meeting of the parliamentary privatisation sub-
 committee, Levy would not identify the potential buyers.
     The Israeli government is hoping to privatise El Al some time in
 1998. In June, a panel recommended floating 100 percent of the shares
 in the domestic capital market as a way for the government to divest
 itself entirely of the airline and pave the way for Sabbath flights.
     The ban on Sabbath flights, instituted at the behest of the re-
 ligious parties, damages the airline's profitability thereby making
 privatisation more difficult. The airline also carries heavy secur-
 ity costs and more recently has been hurt by a down-turn in tourism.
     Levy, who belongs to the National Religious Party, said that even
 after El Al was privatised the government should ensure that it does
 not fly on the Sabbath by retaining golden shares.
     "A big religious public flies El Al especially because the air-
 line does not fly on the Sabbath," Levy said. "This market segment
 would be lost should the airline start flying on the Sabbath." Levy
 added that El Al employees should take part in any decisions con-
 cerning the sale of the airline. El Al is expected to post a loss of
 less than $40 million this year, down from $80 million in 1996.
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