Marrakeck, Morocco, Dec 10 - British tycoon Richard Branson said
 today that his balloon, which broke its moorings before a planned
 launch 24 hours earlier, had been found on the ground 100 miles
 inside Algeria.
      Branson said he hoped to launch another attempt to fly around
 the world starting this weekend if his balloon was not too damaged.
      He told reporters at an airbase near Marrakesh in Morocco: "We
 asked them (the Algerians) to make one cut with a knife, (along) one
 line in the length of the balloon...just three meters (10 feet)."
     The cut was needed to prevent the balloon from possibly taking
 off again when helium in it heated up as the day progressed.
     Branson said Algerian military personnel were at the site and
 "we have a 75 percent change of recovering it again."
     He said the Algerians wanted written authority to cut the
 balloon and he was working to arrange this.
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
     Seattle, Dec. 9 - Asia's growing economic crisis could force
 Boeing Co. to delay delivery of as many as 20 airplanes a year over
 the next three years.
     Company spokeswoman Marta Newhart said the projection for up to
 20 delayed deliveries was a worst-case scenario based on an internal
 review of Asia's economic problems conducted within the past several
 weeks.
     But she emphasized that so far Boeing has not received a single
 request for a deferral from an Asian customer.
     Boeing is expected to deliver 550 jets next year, up from about
 380 this year, including former McDonnell Douglas models.
     Boeing commercial airplane group President Ron Woodard said last
 month the company had gone to customers in Asia and elsewhere, seek-
 ing carriers who would volunteer to accept delayed deliveries to
 help ease a manufacturing crunch caused by parts shortages.
     There were no volunteers, so Boeing was forced to push back de-
 livery schedules equally for all its customers.
     Last week, officials of Asiana Airlines said the South Korean
 carrier would defer delivery of a Boeing 777-200 from late next year
 to 1999 due to the economic crisis, but Newhart said Boeing had not
 heard directly from the airline.
     Over the past several months, Asian air passenger traffic has
 declined by about 11 percent on average, compared with forecasts of
 8 percent to 10 percent growth and recent growth of as much as 30
 percent, according to analyst Nick Heymann of Prudential Securities.
     But Newhart said Boeing remains bullish on Asia, noting that the
 region is expected to account for 34 percent of the industry's pro-
 jected $1.1 trillion in jets to be sold worldwide over the next 20
 years.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
 Survivors of Canadian plane crash airlifted from remote Manitoba town
     LITTLE GRAND RAPIDS, Manitoba - Dec 10, 1997 10:24 p.m. EST --
 Plane crash survivors who spent the night at a nursing station in a
 remote northern community finally reached a Winnipeg hospital Wed-
 nesday after rescuers battled miserable weather.
     The injured had been pulled from the wreckage Tuesday afternoon
 by police and volunteers who raced to the crash site on snow
 machines.
     Four Manitobans were killed as the commuter plane tried to land
 at the gravel airstrip in Little Grand Rapids, an aboriginal commun-
 ity near the Ontario-Manitoba boundary.
     They were identified as pilot Norman Richard McCrea, 62, and
 passengers Lorne William Sayer, 51, Susanne Evelyn Hamilton, 20,
 and her 3-year-old son, Alphonse.
     Thirteen others were hurt, including two who were flown out
 Tuesday night and listed in critical condition Wednesday.
     A woman and a young boy were in serious but stable condition
 after being taken out by helicopter as a light snow fell Wednesday.
 A short time later, a military plane finally broke through thick
 clouds and landed to take the rest of the survivors to Winnipeg.
     The airplane that crashed was a Brazilian-made Embraer EMB-110
 turboprop, owned by Sowind Air Ltd. of St. Andrews, Manitoba. Sowind
 owner Oliver Owen said the flight originated in St. Andrews and was
 going to Little Grand Rapids.
     The cause of the crash had not been determined.
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
          Romania loses its 17th MiG fighter, crew safe
     BUCHAREST - Dec. 10, 1997 3:00 p.m. EST -- A Soviet-made MiG-21
 fighter of the Romanian air force crashed east of Bucharest on Wed-
 nesday, but the crew ejected to safety, the Defense Ministry said.
     "During a training flight, the pilot and co-pilot reported the
 engine had stopped, and ejected according to procedures," a ministry
 statement said.
     The crash, near the town of Fetesti on the River Danube, was the
 17th involving Soviet-built military aircraft in the past seven
 years.
     Pilots complain that defense cuts since the 1989 anti-communist
 revolution have cut flying hours and maintenance.
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