Local -- The air show at Knoxville on May 2-3 will feature the USAF
 Thunderbirds. The world's foremost female show pilot, Patty Wagstaff
 will also be here with Bob Hoover, The U.S. Navy Leap Frogs, F-16s
 and Frank Ryder.  Put it on your calendar.  Jim
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   Report: U.S. military lapses caused Italian cable car accident
     NEW YORK - Feb 18, 1998 9:07 a.m. EST - The New York Times news-
 paper reported Wednesday that there appeared to be a series of ser-
 ious lapses on the part of the U.S. military that led to the cable
 car accident that killed 20 people in northern Italy on February 3.
     The accident occurred when the aircraft, a Marine Corps EA-6B
 Prowler, sliced through the cable carrying the two cabins at Mount
 Cermis, causing one of them to crash to the ground, killing all
 passengers aboard.
                Among the findings reported:
     The crew violated an order to fly 1,000 feet (333 meters) above
 the ground.
     The crew was using a map provided by the Pentagon that did not
 show the ski-lift cable. Italian military maps and road maps include
 the location of the cable.
     Italy says the aircraft veered into off-limits territory. But
 the Pentagon says the jet was on an authorized flight path.
     It was the crew's first flight through the Alpine valley.
     The Times said it based its findings on interviews with Italian
 and American military and law-enforcement officials, defense layers,
 the lift operator and others.
     Roaring through the valley at more than 500 miles an hour, the
 jet skimmed over lakes and roads and frightened some villagers by
 swooping low over their houses, the Times reported.
     The Italians banned low-level flights near the ski lift last
 August because the number of training runs had climbed to 900 a week
 in an area about the size of New Hampshire with a population level
 that is twice as dense. Since then, flights through the valley have
 been cut to 500 a week and low-altitude flying sharply limited,
 according to the newspaper.
     While the crew apologized, the accident has strained relations
 between the two nations and the Italian and American militaries are
 conducting a joint investigation to determine whether any of the
 jet's crew or its commanding officers should face charges.
     Italian civilian prosecutors are conducting a separate
 investigation.
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               Balloonists compensate Burmese bean farmer
     GENEVA - Feb 18, 1998 3:48 p.m. EST - A team of European bal-
 loonists have compensated a Burmese peasant for damage they have
 caused to his bean crop after their hot air balloon landed in his
 fields earlier this month.
     Their spokesman declined to say how much money was paid to the
 peasant after the trio of balloonists landed at the village of
 Othegon, northwest of Rangoon, on Feb. 7 at the end of an unsuccess-
 ful attempt to circle the globe.
     "There were some 2,000 locals who came to help the balloon after
 it landed in the fields. That was the end of the bean crop," said
 spokesman Gerard Sermier. "Balloonists must pay for anything they
 break or damage on their way. That's the rule."
     Swiss psychiatrist Bernard Piccard, Belgian businessman Wim
 Verstraeten and British flight engineer Andy Elson had to abort
 their journey that began in the Swiss Alpine village of Chateau
 d'Oex after China refused them permission to enter its airspace.
 They did, however, set a number of records for longest flights.
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 FAA says eight European countries meet international safety standards
     WASHINGTON - Feb 18, 1998 12:12 p.m. EST -- A study of aviation
 safety regulations in eight European countries shows all eight meet
 international standards, the Federal Aviation Administration said
 Wednesday.
    The FAA said Austria, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway,
 Sweden and Switzerland comply with International Civil Aviation
 Organization standards, meaning airlines from those countries can
 operate regularly to and from the United States.
     The assessments do not rate individual airlines' safety, but
 determine whether foreign civil aviation authorities are in place
 and ensure that their carriers maintain safety procedures.
     The FAA conducts the studies in countries that operate flights
 to the United States and others that request an assessment. The
 agency, which began the assessments in 1994, has announced 88
 including Wednesday's eight.
     Fourteen countries have failed: Belize, Congo, Dominican Repub-
 lic, Gambia, Haiti, Honduras, Kiribati, Malta, Nicaragua, Paraguay,
 Suriname, Swaziland, Uruguay and Zimbabwe.
     Interested persons can check a country's rating on the FAA
 Internet website at www.faa.gov.
     There are three possible ratings for a country:
 Category 1 meets all standards
 Category 2 is approved conditionally
 Category 3 fails to meet standards.
 Airlines from Category 3 countries are banned from flying to and
 from the United States and those in Category 2 can travel here only
 under heightened U.S. government inspection.
--- DB 1.39/004487
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