Pilot rescued from plane stuck in Seattle power lines
     SEATTLE -- April 9, 1998 1:13 p.m. EDT -- A small plane became
 entangled in power lines while trying to land Thursday, stranding
 the pilot for hours before he was safely rescued from the upside-
 down cockpit 60 feet above a highway.
     The Cessna 150L, which was coming in for a landing at Boeing
 Field shortly before 6 a.m., dangled from a wire by one wheel.
     Nearly four hours later, the pilot, Mike Warren, climbed free
 of the plane after rescuers stabilized the plane with straps and
 moved up a rescue basket on the end of a ladder.
     Onlookers burst into applause as Warren, 47, got into the
 basket.
     It was not clear why the accident occurred, said National Trans-
 portation Safety Board investigator Kurt Anderson.  The plane had
 been cleared for landing, but as it touched down it suddenly took
 off again, veered to the left and got caught in the lines, he said.
     Weather was clear, and there were no other planes in the immedi-
 ate vicinity, Anderson said. Officials did not know if there was a
 mechanical problem.
     Warren, a crane operator who commutes by plane from across Puget
 Sound, is an expert pilot, said a friend, Bill Ammirata.
     "I don't know what happened to him there -- a power failure or
 something," Ammirata told KIRO-TV. "He knows that airport like the
 back of his hand."
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                     Boeing taking $350M charge
 Aircraft maker warns 737 program woes, price pressures to cut first
 quarter profit.
      NEW YORK - April 9, 1998: 11:26 a.m. ET - Adding details to its
 earlier warnings, Boeing Co. said Thursday it will take a pre-tax
 charge of $350 million in the first quarter as the aircraft maker
 struggles to keep up with production goals for its 737 program and
 compete with its big rival.
     The Seattle-based aerospace company, beset by production lags
 last fall due to parts and labor troubles, already had said it will
 take a charge of $700 million to cover losses on the first 400 planes
 produced in the next-generation 737 program.
     Excluding that loss, Boeing said it expects to report a pre-tax
 profit of $400-$450 million when it reports first-quarter results
 April 22.
     New costs to retrofit 737s after certification and flight test
 activity and an effort to remedy the parts and labor dilemmas mean
 Boeing will put more resources and overtime into the 737 program as
 its production rate increases, the company said.
     "The management and operational complexities, on an industrywide
 basis, of the rapid production rate buildup that resulted in abnor-
 mally high parts shortages and out-of-sequence work in the second
 half of 1997 cannot be reversed quickly," said Boeing's Chairman and
 Chief Executive Officer Phil Condit.
     "We are making progress and focusing our energies to get back to
 full production health in 1998 on all of our commercial programs,"
 he said. Last October, Boeing said it would take $2.6 billion in
 charges against earnings in 1998.
     The troubles have struck Boeing at a time when it has seen orders
 soar, partly because it and its big European rival Airbus Industrie
 are essentially the only two suppliers the big commercial airlines
 have.
     "Our order book remains strong," Condit said.
     "We have announced orders for more than 850 next-generation 737
 aircraft, with 15 delivered through the end of March 1998.
     "In total, we have unfilled announced orders for more than 1,750
 commercial aircraft," he said, stressing that the company has "solid
 opportunities in the next several years."
     But on the down side, Boeing said price pressures in its heated
 battle with Airbus will also hurt top-line growth, and the company
 has lowered its sales targets as a result.
     "Changes in the projected mix of the models offered, coupled with
 a lower price-escalation trend reduced revenue estimates for the
 first 400 units [of the next-generation 737s]," Boeing said.
     Airbus is feeling the squeeze as well.
     In its annual report, released Wednesday. Daimler-Benz AG, the
 German partner in the Airbus consortium, said the European aircraft
 maker reported a 61 percent decline in profit in 1997 compared with
 the prior year. Because Airbus is a partnership, it isn't required
 to disclose those results itself.
     After slumping in pre-open trading, Boeing shares (BA), which
 are included in the Dow Jones industrial average, were unchanged at
 55-1/4.
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