PILOT AND AUTHOR CHARGED WITH STEALING TWA 800 WRECKAGE
     TWA's chief 747 pilot, a TWA flight attendant and the author of
 a book about the TWA 800 crash have been charged with stealing pieces
 of the wreckage from the hangar where investigators reconstructed the
 Boeing 747.  Warrants were issued for James Sanders, author of "The
 Downing of TWA Flight 800," his wife Liz Sanders, a TWA flight atten-
 dant, and TWA pilot Terrell Stacey. According to officials, Stacey
 allegedly took documents and seat fabric at his wife's request to
 help Sanders with his book.
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                       BOEING DELAYS NEW 777S
     Boeing Co. has slowed development of two proposed longer-range
 versions of its 777 airliner but remains confident the new models
 ultimately will be launched, a company spokeswoman said Friday.
     Boeing spokeswoman Janice Hayes said the company has pushed back
 the potential dates for initial delivery of the proposed 777-200x
 and -300x, which have been offered to airlines since March. Initial-
 ly, Boeing had hoped to launch the programs this year.
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               More than 46 die in Siberian plane crash
     MOSCOW - December 6, 1997 - 9:00 a.m. EST (1400 GMT)  -- Police
 and firefighters searched for casualties Saturday near the Siberian
 city of Irkutsk, after a huge military Antonov transport plane
 crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 46 people aboard and
 more on the ground.
     According to the Interfax news agency, up to 100 residents were
 killed and another 100 were injured when the plane barreled along
 the main street.  Thirteen children reportedly were hospitalized,
 and dozens of residents were evacuated.
     The plane, commonly known as the Ruslan, was carrying 16 crew
 members and 30 military personnel. The cause of the crash was not
 immediately known.
     Flaming wreckage set at least five buildings on fire, and a
 multistory apartment building was leveled when the plane crashed
 just after 9:44 a.m., Interfax reported. The ITAR-Tass news agency
 said 16 bodies had been recovered from the apartment house by
 Saturday evening.
     The Antonov-124 four-engine aircraft, one of the world's largest
 planes, crashed about 20 seconds after taking off in good weather
 from an airport at an aircraft factory in the industrial town of
 Irkutsk-2, a satellite city of Irkutsk, Defense Ministry spokesman
 Lt. Col. Nikolai Baranov said.
     According to Interfax, the flight was scheduled to go to Vladi-
 vostok in the Russian Far East, then on to Vietnam.
     In the evening hours, police and rescue teams searched the debris
 for casualties after firefighters battled the blaze, Russian tele-
 vision reported.
     "The fire is out, and rescue workers have begun the search for
 bodies," an emergency official was quoted as saying.
     The cause of the crash was unknown, and President Boris Yeltsin
 dispatched Prime Minster Viktor Chernomyrdin to the town to head the
 disaster probe.
     Rescue teams were said to have recovered the Antonov's "black
 box," which experts hope will contain crucial flight information.
     The former Soviet air fleet has been plagued by chronic safety
 problems since the 1991 collapse of the country and the breakup of
 the former state airline Aeroflot into some 400 companies.
     Experts have blamed poor maintenance, safety violations and
 cost-cutting for persistent problems, which included nine major
 crashes over a 10-month period in 1994.
     Russian aviation officials said recently that aircraft safety
 was improving, following attempts to boost inspection standards.
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