2 planes collide over residential neighborhood
     ROSWELL, Ga. - April 4, 1998 3:07 p.m. EST -- A private jet and
 a single-engine airplane collided Saturday over a residential neigh-
 borhood in suburban Atlanta, killing at least two people.
     The pilots of both planes were killed, said Robert Quigley, a
 Cobb County police spokesman. Rescue workers could not tell if any-
 one else was killed in the crash because burning wreckage and
 leaking jet fuel made it impossible to search.
     The planes collided about 10:30 a.m. over a subdivision of
 single-family homes in Cobb County, just north of Atlanta.
     The wreckage of a Cessna 172N burned in the back yard of a two- story 
home.
     The other airplane -- believed to be a Lear jet that seats 8 to
 10 people -- was about three-quarters of a mile away.
     "I heard this crunch and I looked up," said Bob Young, a wit-
 ness. "What appears to be a business jet had lost its tail and was
 doing what might be described as a slow circle down."
     There was no immediate word on how many people were aboard the
 planes or if anyone was injured on the ground.
     A 15-foot section of the jet ended up on top of Andy Christian's
 house, where wreckage punched two holes in the roof of his garage.
     "I was watching TV and I heard a sound that sounded like a loud
 thunder clap," Christian. "It shook the whole house so bad I thought
 maybe a bomb had gone off."
     Christian said the bulk of the jet wreckage was 300 yards from
 his house.
     The smaller plane passed over Ed Rogers' house and crashed in a
 pasture about 100 feet from his front yard. Debris, including pieces
 of wing and scraps of a pilot's handbook, fell in his yard.
     "It came right over our carport. It took the top off a pine tree
 and it hit two or three more trees before it fell," Rogers said. "I
 just thought a tree fell on the house."
     Police and firefighters were gathered around the wreckage.
     "It's like a heap of scrap," Rogers said. "They got the fire out
 and secured the area."
     Carol Harmon, a resident in the area, said she heard the
 accident.
     "I looked up and I did see debris in the air, which looked like
 a piece of wing," she told WSB-TV.
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                      LATEST INFORMATION
        Five dead as airplanes collide over Georgia suburb
     MARIETTA, Ga. - April 4, 1998 4 Hours later -- Fiery debris
 rained down on a suburban neighborhood Saturday after a private jet
 and a single-engine plane collided, killing at least five people.
     Both pilots and three passengers on the jet were killed, said
 Preston Hicks, a spokesman with the National Transportation Safety
 Board.
     Although the jet's flight plan showed five people aboard, one of
 the passengers never boarded the plane, Cobb County police spokesman
 Robert Quigley said. The smaller plane did not file a flight plan.
     Crews were searching for additional victims, but were hampered
 by leaking jet fuel and twisted wreckage.
     "The (jet) is upside down and it is crushed in its current loca-
 tion. So, we're having to raise the airplane ... and then we're
 having to open up the airplane in order to get inside," Hicks said.
     The identities of the pilots and passengers were not released.
 Quigley said the jet's pilot and three passengers were co-workers
 from the Atlanta area, but he would not say where they were employed.
     The jet had just taken off from Peachtree-DeKalb County Airport
 near Atlanta en route to Harrisburg, Pa., when it collided with the
 smaller plane at 3,000 to 4,000 feet, Hicks said.
     The smaller plane was registered out of Cumming, about 30 miles
 north of Atlanta.
     The planes hit the ground less than a mile apart in a subdi-
 vision of single-family homes about 30 miles north of Atlanta. No
 one on the ground was injured, but stunned residents watched as
 burning parts of both planes fell onto their yards and even slammed
 into a house.
     "I heard something that sounded like a crippled plane. Just as I
 got up and got to the back door, it hit that big maple tree out
 there," said J.B. Dalton, who found a mangled, single-engine Cessna
 172-N burning in his back yard.
     "There was nothing but scrap and fire," Dalton said. "I ran down
 there. I knew I could do nothing."
     The second plane, a Cessna Citation jet, smashed into a deck
 behind a two-story house. The bulk of the jet, which seats seven to
 10 people, lay flattened and fractured in the back yard. The rear of
 the jet was found in a backyard swimming pool a few blocks away.
     The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transpor-
 tation Safety Board were on the scene investigating.
     Ed Rogers said he heard the smaller plane pass over his house,
 but didn't know what was happening until he looked outside and saw
 the burning wreck in his neighbor's yard.
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