Taiwan crash raises questions about Airbus A-300
     NEW YORK -- Feb 16, 1998 11:14 p.m. EST -- The crash of China
 Airlines Flight 676 on Taiwan Monday killing 205 people was the
 fourth involving an  Airbus A-300 wide-body jet, and all occurred
 as the planes were trying to land.
     Just five months ago, a Garuda Indonesian Airways A-300 crashed
 19 miles from an Indonesian airport, killing 234 people.
     In September 1992, a Pakistan International A-300 slammed into
 a mountain on its approach to an airport in Nepal, killing 167
 people.
     Officials with Airbus Industrie, the manufacturer of the jet,
 tell CNN that there is no significance to the similarities in the
 accidents. They say, instead, that landing is the riskiest part of
 a flight.
     But investigators are sure to review these crashes, along with
 another China Airlines A-300 crash in Nagoya, Japan, in 1994 that
 killed 264 people.
     Japanese investigators determined that the pilots in the Nagoya
 crash attempted to abort their landing and fly the plane manually
 without realizing that the autopilot was still engaged.
     The investigators cited inadequate training for the crew as a
 factor in the crash, prompting China Airlines to begin a safety
 program that included extensive retraining for its pilots.
                  Airbus' automation questioned
     Aviation officials in the United States, meanwhile, have ex-
 pressed their own concerns about the design of the automated system
 on the Airbus.
     "There have been issues with the design of the Airbus autopilots
 having to do with the automation philosophy Airbus uses," says
 professor John Hansman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
 "Again, we don't know whether that's related to this accident."
     Airbus Industrie in Toulouse, France, produces six different
 aircraft, which are known for their highly automated cockpits.
     But the trend toward more sophisticated, computerized flight is
 controversial. By trying to eliminate pilot error as a potential
 hazard, some fear that the airplane has become too sophisticated.
     Whatever the cause of the fatal crash of China Airlines Flight
 676, the debate is certain to continue.
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        Investigators search for clues after Taiwain crash
     TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Feb 17, 1998 6:42 p.m. EST -- Investigators
 reconstructing the route of China Airlines Flight CI676 focused
 Tuesday on why the jet veered off a seemingly routine approach at
 the last moment, crashing and exploding into flames just short of
 the runway.
     Although the plane crashed in fog and a light rain, investi-
 gators were looking elsewhere for a cause. Initial information sug-
 gested that despite the weather, the veteran pilots had been on a
 routine approach until just before the accident.
     Flight data records had been recovered and sent to the United
 States for analysis, airport officials said.
     A recording of cockpit conversations with the control tower
 indicated that the pilot of the twin-engine Airbus sought permission
 to land when the jet still was on course.
     He then lost touch and did not answer a question about whether
 he would try a second approach. The recording offered no information
 to confirm reports from the airline that the pilot was trying a
 second approach when the plane crashed.
     Two beeps were then heard on the tape. Chang Kuo-cheng, Taiwan's
 deputy director of civil aeronautics, said they could have been from
 the plane's warning system.
     Chang said the plane touched ground off the runway, hit a
 utility pole and a highway median about 200 feet from the runway. It
 then skidded into several houses, surrounded by fish farms, rice
 paddies, factories and warehouses, and exploded.
     A resident near the airport told a radio station that he saw the
 jetliner apparently preparing to land, "as if the pilot mistook the
 spacious highway for the runway."
     The impact and blast left few pieces of the plane still recog-
 nizable -- parts of a tail and a wing on one side of the road, and
 three large pieces of fuselage on the other.
    Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration ordered China Airlines,
 the country's flagship carrier, to ground its nine remaining Airbus
 300 jets of the type that crashed.
     Airline spokesman Hamilton Liu said flights would be canceled or
 consolidated until the planes pass strict inspections.
     China Airlines was plagued for years with a reputation for poor
 service and a shoddy safety record, but had largely kept a clean
 record since it launched a campaign to retrain pilots and retool its
 image after a 1994 crash in Japan that killed 264.
     While the airline will have to pay compensation to family mem-
 bers of victims of Monday's crash, analysts say its real losses will
 come in shattered consumer confidence and nose-diving ticket sales.
     "Nobody is going to want to be getting on one of these any time
 soon," said Dan Chen, a transportation analyst for Capital
 Securities Corp.
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