Airliner crashes in Bogota
     BOGOTA, Colombia - April 20, 1998 6:55 p.m. EDT - An Ecuadorian
 Boeing 727 crashed into a hill in Bogota on Monday, authorities
 said. There was no immediate word on whether the plane, owned by
 the airline TAME, was carrying passengers.
     The jet slammed into the mountains east of Bogota after taking
 off about 4:30 p.m. It was en route to Quito, the Ecuadorian capital,
 said a civil aviation spokesman, adding that it had been leased from
 the Ecuadorian carrier by Air France.
     Reporters trying to reach the crash scene said it was very foggy
 and cold. Dozens of police and emergency vehicles rushed to the
 scene, but were barred from the site by policemen.
     Gen. Alfredo Salgado, operations director of the national police,
 said the Bogota airport control tower told him the flight that
 crashed had 43 passengers and 8 crew members aboard.
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          Marine pilot says he regrets fatal Italian mishap
     CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. - April 20, 1998 5:55 p.m. EDT - The pilot of
 a Marine Corps jet involved in a fatal mishap over an Italian ski
 resort regrets the accident but believes charges in the case are
 politically motivated, his attorney said on Monday.
     Capt. Richard Ashby and his three crewmembers face negligent
 homicide and involuntary manslaughter charges after their EA-6B
 Prowler severed two ski lift cables during a low-altitude flight
 over the Italian Alps, killing 20 skiers in a gondola car that was
 sent plunging to the ground.
     "For decades, military members have been involved in training
 exercises which have resulted in deaths, and in many of those cases
 there have been acts of negligence and perhaps even recklessness.
 And yet, there does not appear to be anyone court-martialed previ-
 ously in similar circumstances," civilian attorney Frank Spinner
 said.
     A military judge on June 15 will convene an Article 32 proceed-
 ing, the equivalent of a civilian grand jury, to determine whether
 Ashby, 30, of Mission Viejo, California and his navigator, Capt.
 Joseph Schweitzer, 30, of Westbury, New York, will face court-martial
 for their roles in the mishap.
     The judge, Lt. Col. Ronald Rodgers, scheduled a separate Article
 32 proceeding on May 5 for the two crewmen -- Capt. Chandler Sea-
 graves, 28, of Ninevah, Indiana, and Capt. William Rainey, 26, of
 Englewood, Colorado. They were in the jet's rear seats operating
 electronic equipment during the fatal flight.
     Seagraves' attorney said the crewmen in the rear seats had no
 control of the jet as it streaked through the Italian Alps on a
 low-level training flight, clipping lift cables about 370 feet off
 the ground and sending a gondola filled with skiers plunging to the
 ground.
     "Capt. Seagraves and Capt. Rainey were sitting in the back seats
 of the aircraft with different duties (than the co-pilots)," Capt.
 Paul Kaplan, Seagraves' lawyer, said during the crewmen's first court
 appearance at Camp LeJeune in North Carolina
     Seagraves was assigned "at the last minute" to the training
 flight, which took off from an airbase near Aviano, Italy, Kaplan
 said. "Out of fairness to him, he needs to be considered seperately
 from the other air crew," he said.
     The EA-6B Prowler electronic surveillance jet was allegedly fly-
 ing too low and too fast when it severed two gondola cables at a ski
 resort near Cavalese, Italy, on Feb. 3. The damaged jet returned
 safely to the Aviano air base.
     "It goes without saying that each of the crewmembers have exper-
 ienced a great deal of regret about what happened. Their hearts go
 out in sympathy to the families of those who perished in this
 accident," Spinner said.
     The mishap sparked calls to close U.S. military bases in Italy
 and strained relations between the two countries.
     Military prosecutors plan to call 13 witnesses during the hear-
 ings. The Marine's Atlantic Command in Norfolk has not yet released
 results of a separate inquiry into whether the squadron's commanding
 officers should share responsibility for the mishap.
     Dave Beck, Schweitzer's civilian attorney, questioned why the
 electronic surveillance officers in the rear seats face the same
 charges as the pilot and navigator.
     "We don't have any indication why all four are facing 20 counts
 of involuntary manslaughter and 20 counts of negligent homicide. We
 are concerned about political pressure that that could have, and we
 intend to have that looked into," he said.
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           Southwest Airlines Top Again in Quality Rating
 WASHINGTON - April 20, 1998 Southwest Airlines has received the high-
 est marks for the third year running in a study ranking 10 major U.S.
 carriers released Monday.
     Since 1991, the Wichita State University and the University of
 Nebraska at Omaha have produced a quality index based on publicly
 available information taking 19 factors - including punctuality, age
 and number of aircraft, mishandled baggage and fares - into account.
     Other airlines ranked in descending order in the study for 1997
 were Alaska, Continental, American, United, Delta, Northwest, America
 West, TWA and U.S. Airways.
     For second place Alaska, it was its first time in the top ten.
 Continental moved up to third from fifth place in 1996.
     University of Nebraska Aviation Institute professor Brent Bowen
 told reporters all of the airlines in the top ten were capable of
 providing consumers with good service and the chances of a "quality"
 travel experience were best among the top listed carriers, but there
 was no guarantee.
     "For example, on traveling the number one carrier to be at this
 press conference, I had one of my worst airline experiences," Bowen
 said.
     "If you travel more than 10 times a year, you will be assured
 that whatever airline you travel, you'll have some unpleasant
 experiences."
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