Taiwan domestic airliner crashes with 13 aboard
     TAIPEI -- March 18, 1998 12:18 p.m. EST -- A Formosa Airlines
 plane carrying 13 passengers and crew crashed into the sea Wednesday
 off northwestern Taiwan while flying on a newly-opened domestic air
 route, officials said.
     Lin Chien-chiang, a city councilor from Hsinchu, told state-run
 television that two bodies had been found by fishermen.
     The report could not be independently confirmed.
     Lin said fishermen in the area heard an explosion around the
 time of the crash.
     State television said that military radar had located the wreck-
 age of the plane. Formosa Airlines President Sun Hung-hsiang told
 the press the chances of finding survivors were slim.
     Eight marine police boats were trying to find wreckage but heli-
 copters were forced to return to base due to bad weather, Hsinchu
 airport director Chen Hua-shuo said.
     The military also joined the search sending two frigates, a res-
 cue boat, a C-130 transport aircraft and a S-70C helicopter to the
 crash site.
     Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) official Yang Cheng-chih
 said the plane disappeared from radar screens a few minutes after
 taking off from Hsinchu at 7:30 p.m. The plane, bound for the sou-
 thern city of Kaohsiung, crashed in the sea six miles off Hsinchu at
 7:48 p.m.
     CAA Director Tsai Tui has ordered the air company to ground six
 other SAAB airliners for comprehensive safety checks.
     The crash occurred only three days after the air route was
 opened in response to rising demand. There were no foreigners on
 board the 36-seat Saab 340 airliner, which carried eight passengers
 and five crew.
     Premier Vincent Siew expressed shock at the crash. The transpor-
 tation and communications ministry formed a task force to handle the
 airline's second accident in seven months.
     Formosa Airlines has the worst flight safety record of local
 airlines with six major air disasters over the last 10 years.
     Last Aug. 10 one of its planes flew into a hill on the island of
 Matsu during heavy rain, killing 16 people. A weatherman responsible
 for keeping the island's airport open in bad weather later attempted
 to commit suicide believing he was responsible.
     "I could not sleep at the thought of the 16 deaths. I prefer to
 die," Ouyang Kangyen said in a suicide note. He has only just
 recovered for his injuries.
     Taiwan is still reeling from its worst air disaster on Feb. 16,
 when a China Airlines Airbus ploughed into houses outside Chiang
 Kai-shek International Airport. Some 182 passengers and 14 crew were
 killed as well as six people on the ground.
     Two pilots were killed after an army twin-seat Th-55 trainer
 plane crashed in southern Taiwan Tuesday.
     The government ordered flag carrier China Airlines to carry out
 a widespread staff shake-up after the February disaster. The Civil
 Aeronautics Administration announced the creation of a special task
 force to direct and supervise reforms.
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        Discrimination Alleged - Minority Workers Sue Boeing
      Seattle, March 17 - Forty-one minority workers sued The Boeing
 Co. on Tuesday, seeking millions of dollars for alleged racial
 discrimination.
     The lawsuit accuses the aerospace giant of failing to promote,
 a hostile work environment, discriminatory hiring practices and sex-
 ual harassment.
     The Superior Court lawsuit seeks back pay, court expenses,
 general damages, damages for physical and emotional stress and
 medical expenses. The total "is believed to exceed $82 million,"
 the lawsuit said.
     A Boeing senior vice president, Jim Dagnon, promised the company
 would look into the allegations and "appropriately address" any
 found to have merit.
                     Allegedly Denied Promotions
     All but one of the plaintiffs are black, the lawsuit said. The
 lone exception is Filipino and Native American. All are current or
 former Boeing employees.
     The lawsuit said many of the plaintiffs were denied promotions
 granted others with equal or lesser qualifications, or offered
 promotions that required them to transfer when others were not
 required to do so.
     Blacks made up 4.7 percent of Boeing's 238,500-member workforce
 in 1996, The Seattle Times reported.
--- DB 1.39/004487
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