Five balloonists rescued from Rocky Mountain crash site
     FRISCO, Colo. - March 16, 1998 09:24 a.m. EST - Five balloonists
 spent nearly eight hours stranded on an icy mountainside before an
 Army helicopter pulled them to safety just as snow and darkness
 enveloped the area.
     The balloonists, blown off course during a sightseeing trip,
 were rescued Sunday evening, when temperatures were in the 20s.
     "We got them down just in the nick of time," said Summit County
 Sheriff Joe Morales.
     The balloonists, who used a radio to contact authorities, did
 not require hospitalization.
     The hot-air balloon was blown off course by unexpected up-slope
 winds, then ran low on fuel and made an emergency landing shortly
 around 11 a.m. in a gully at about 11,000 feet, said pilot Ed
 VandeHoeff, 41, of Aero Cruise Balloon Adventures Inc. of
 Broomfield.
     "We went for a nice balloon ride, got low on gas, came over the
 ridge and didn't have enough gas to make it down to the highway,"
 said passenger Bill Davidson, 60, of Houston.
     Sheriff's spokeswoman Judy Scollard said there were blue ice
 fields below the stranded balloonists and the threat of avalanches
 above them. The crash location is high above Interstate 70 near
 Frisco, about 75 miles west of Denver.
     Winds kept helicopters at bay most of the day, and rescue teams
 were sent to traverse near-vertical ice fields and rappel the
 balloonists down.
     The teams climbed back down after the Blackhawk helicopter
 rescued the balloonists around 7 p.m.
     The other passengers were Davidson's wife, Ann, and Maurice and
 Nicole Lewis, from England.
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             AirTran launches new frequent flyer program
     Reward plan counts trips rather than miles, includes tickets on
 other airlines
     ATLANTA - March 16, 5:34 p.m. EDT -- Low-fare carrier AirTran
 Airlines announced Monday that it was launching a unique frequent
 flyer program that counts trips taken rather than miles flown in
 the quest for flight credits -- and offers an option of earning
 free travel on airlines other than AirTran.
     The former ValuJet's new "A-Plus Rewards" program, which begins
 Tuesday, provides coach passengers with two flight credit vouchers
 per one round trip, and business class passengers with four per
 round trip. Three business class or six coach class round trips
 are good for an AirTran ticket .
     "We have the fastest and most innovative reward program in the
 industry by offering free travel to just about anywhere in the con-
 tinental U.S., not only to the 38 cities we serve," said AirTran
 senior vice president of sales and marketing Ponder Harrison. "It
 takes up to eight  times longer to earn free travel on other
 carriers."
     "A-Plus Rewards revolutionizes traditional frequent-flyer pro-
 grams as they are currently structured," he added.
     Flight vouchers may be earned on AirTran through December 31,
 1998, and must be redeemed by December 31, 1999. Trips must be
 taken by December 31, 2000.
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