Report: Marine jet too low, too fast in Italy accident
     In this story: Pilot error or criminal negligence?
     Charges would be in military court
     Related sites and stories
     WASHINGTON -- March 10, 1998 8:53 p.m. EST -- The U.S. Marines
 Corps is expected  to release the results of an investigation later
 this week into an accident last month in which 20 people were killed
 when a low-flying Marine jet sliced a cable supporting a gondola.
     Sources tell CNN that the investigation is finished and that
 there is no question that the Marine EA-6B Prowler was flying too
 low and too fast when it clipped the cable February 3 in the
 Italian Alps near Cavalese.
     But there are other questions including whether the accident
 resulted from pilot error or from irresponsible joy-riding that
 could be considered criminal negligence.
     Sources say there is enough evidence that the crew was hot-dog-
 ging to warrant discipline and legal proceedings that would determine
 if any -- or all -- of the four-man crew should be court-martialed.
     The Marines insist that flying below authorized limits is not
 tolerated, and the crew's squadron commander was relieved last month
 when a home video was found indicating that he had engaged in a
 similar joyride.
     "I do not believe this establishes a pattern and I believe these
 are rare occurrences -- very, very tragic and unfortunate
 occurrences," says Marine Maj. Gen. Michael Ryan.
     Charges would be in military court
     The Marine jet was supposed to stay above 2,000 feet. The crew
 thought the limit was 1,000 feet, but investigators say that at 370
 feet, the plane was too low for there to have been any confusion.
     And sources say that while one of the plane's altimeters did
 appear to have malfunctioned, the other clearly displayed the
 correct altitude.
     Italy has requested authority to prosecute the pilots, but
 sources say that if charges of negligent homicide are to be brought,
 they will be brought in a U.S. military court.
     "In the past, under the North Atlantic Treaty Organization sta-
 tus of forces agreement, we have not agreed to local jurisdiction,"
 says Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon. "But, as I said, this case is
 still under review."
     The larger question is whether U.S. military pilots routinely
 violate altitude rules, and whether commanders wink at the practice
 until something goes wrong.
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              Six dead in air crash at Kenya airport
     NAIROBI, March 10 1998 21:33 SAT, Johannesburg time - Six people
 died at Kenya's Mombasa airport on Tuesday when a cargo plane
 crashed shortly after take-off, air traffic controllers and
 police said.
     The Boeing-707 plane carrying a consignment of fish crashed at
 Moi International Airport shortly after 4.30 p.m. local time (1330
 GMT), according to police spokesman Peter Kimanthi in Nairobi.
     "Police have been able to retrieve five bodies burned beyond
 recognition and we are looking for the sixth body. No one on the
 ground was killed as far as we know," Kimanthi said after
 speaking to police in Mombasa.
    He added that the plane's registration marking, SU-PBA, suggested
 that the plane was registered in Sudan.
     A senior air traffic controller in Mombasa said the plane was
 operated by "Air Memphis." It was not immediately clear if they were
 the owners of the aircraft or had chartered it.
     He said it had landed for refuelling at Moi International Air-
 port, Mombasa, from Mwanza in northwest Tanzania and was due to fly
 on to Cairo.
     "There were six persons on board and they all perished. The
 aircraft was burned beyond recognition," the official said.
     The official, who declined to be identified, said that an inves-
 tigation was underway and the airport had since reopened.
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