Three killed as Philippine plane overshoots runway
     BACOLOD, Philippines -- March 22, 1998 12:30 p.m. EST -- Three
 people on the ground were killed Sunday when a Philippine Airlines
 Airbus ploughed into squatter shacks after overshooting the runway
 in the central Philippines, officials said.
     "Three are confirmed dead," Philippine Air Transport chief
 Carlos Tanega told Reuters. "The plane overshot 100 to 200 meters
 into squatter homes."
     The Airbus 320 with 121 passengers and six crew slammed into a
 discotheque and dozens of shacks at the end of the runway at Bacolod
 airport, 305 miles south of Manila.
     "The plane was shuddering when it hit the ground. I thought it
 would explode," said passenger Rosalinda Castillo.
     Local hospital officials said 88 people, including two Japanese
 passengers and the plane's captain, were injured.
     Passengers on the domestic flight from Manila told reporters
 they thought the pilot had made a late landing, hitting the middle
 of the runway before trying to take off again.
     "We don't know the cause yet, what really happened," Tanega
 said, adding he had discussed upgrading facilities at Bacolod air-
 port with President Fidel Ramos just a few hours before the
 accident.
     Witnesses said the two pilots were pinned in the crumpled cock-
 pit and rescuers had to smash the plane's nose with axes to free
 them.
     Television footage showed what appeared to be one of the pilots
 being carried on a stretcher with an oxygen mask, his white shirt
 almost completely soaked in blood.
     The heavily damaged plane lay on its belly in the rubble of the
 crushed discotheque. One wing looked to be almost completely
 destroyed.
     It was the country's second fatal aviation accident in seven
 weeks after a DC-9 owned by Cebu Pacific Air slammed into a mountain
 in the southern Philippines on February 2, killing all 104 people
 aboard.
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                       Snow blankets New York
     NEW YORK - March 22, 1998 11:36 a.m. EST - The season's biggest
 snowfall closed LaGuardia Airport and caused departure and arrival
 delays at New York's two other major airports Sunday, a spokeswoman
 for the Port Authority that operates the airports said.
     "LaGuardia has been closed since 6:15 a.m.  We don't know when
 it will reopen. It all depends on the weather," she said.
     Arrival and departure delays at Newark and John F. Kennedy Inter-
 national airports were of about 30 minutes, but some airlines
 reported delays of up to two hours, she said.
     "LaGuardia is reporting five inches of snow, Kennedy Airport
 2-1/2 inches and Newark 2.1 inches so far," National Weather Service
 meteorologist Dave Riley said.
     The snow, which began falling in the city at 3 a.m. had already
 dumped 2.3 inches, Riley said. "It should taper off by mid-after-
 noon," he added.
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           Brazil initiates air war to combat Amazon fires
     SAO PAULO - March 22, 1998 6:31 p.m. EST - Brazil on Sunday sent
 two water-dumping Argentine helicopters to battle fires ravaging the
 northern Amazon, launching its long-awaited air assault against the
 flames a day ahead of schedule, officials said.
     "They're already at work in the area around Apiau," said a
 spokeswoman for the Roraima state government. "They were able to
 equip the helicopters faster than they expected."
     Earlier on Sunday, officials said they expected the air assault
 on the blaze would not begin until Monday.
     But firefighters were quickly able to outfit two Argentine chop-
 pers with 130-gallon buckets and send them on afternoon runs over
 Apiau, some 75 miles from the state capital, Boa Vista.
     Officials expect to equip the remaining two helicopters brought
 to Brazil on Friday by 120 Argentine firefighters in time to send
 them out on Monday morning.
     The aircraft were being sent into areas almost impossible to
 reach on the ground, they said.
     The fires set by slash-and-burn farmers and fueled by El Nino-
 spawned drought and high winds, have burned out of control in Bra-
 zil's northern Amazon for two months, sweeping across grasslands
 and virgin rainforest.
     The fires have moved into ecological reserves and the reserva-
 tion of the Yanomami Indian tribe and spewed huge plumes of smoke
 into the air over much of Roraima, a state roughly the size of
 Britain
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     China Airlines pilot overworked before crash, lawmaker says
     TAIPEI, Taiwan - March 22, 1998 3:24 p.m. EST -- The pilot of
 a China Airlines jet that crashed last month, killing 202 people,
 was overworked, a lawmaker said Sunday, pointing the finger at poor
 airline management.
     Pilot Kang Lung-ling had only three days off in February before
 the accident happened on the night of Feb. 16, Chu Fong-chi, a mem-
 ber of the governing Nationalist Party, said at a news conference.
     Taiwanese regulations require pilots to be given 10 days off a
 month, along with five days of supplemental training, Chu said. Fly-
 ing is limited to 15 days a month, she said.
     Violations of rules covering flying hours and training require-
 ments are routine at CAL, which is suffering a serious shortage of
 pilots, Chu said.
     Company discipline is also lax, and CAL pilots are renown for
 heavy drinking, gambling and seeking prostitutes, she said.
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