Pilot killed in crash at Florida air show
     LAKELAND, Fla. - April 21, 1998 8:55 p.m. EDT -- A pilot died
 Tuesday when his ultralight airplane crashed at an air show, just
 two days after two men died in a collision at another central
 Florida air show.
     Larry L. Collins of Dayton, Ohio, was taking off when it appeared
 that his small, single-seat aircraft lost lift, said Bill Eickhoff,
 president of the Sun & Fun Fly-In air show.
     Collins, 51, died on impact, police spokesman Jack Gillen said.
     The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.
     On Sunday, two pilots were killed when their biplanes crashed
 after colliding during acrobatic maneuvers at an air show in
 Kissimmee, near Orlando.
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            Air Forces tries to increase appeal to pilots
     WASHINGTON - April 21, 1998 5:49 p.m. EDT -- Facing a potential
 pilot shortage, the Air Force is moving to reduce overseas assign-
 ments and increase bonus pay for fliers who stay in the military,
 the Air Force chief of staff said Tuesday.
     Gen. Michael Ryan said the Air Force may be partly to blame for
 the current loss of experienced pilots, who are often deployed away
 from families or given administrative jobs that take them out of the
 cockpit.
     The lure of better money in commercial flying also is adding to
 a rising attrition rate of veteran Air Force pilots, he said.
     "These are wonderful human beings. It's not their fault they're
 leaving," Ryan told reporters at a defense writers' breakfast. "It
 may be our fault. It's hard work and it's hard on their families."
     Ryan said that last year more than 800 pilots refused bonuses of
 $60,000 to extend their time in service five years beyond the nine
 they signed up. Only 36 percent of pilots at the nine-year mark
 agreed to stay on, said Ryan.
     The Air Force expects to be 835 pilots short of its required
 14,000 this year because of attrition, The Associated Press reported
 in March. The Air Force predicts that by 2002 the "pilot gap" could
 more than double, causing possible readiness and shortage problems.
     "There are no cockpits going empty yet," said Maj. Stevi Shapiro,
 an Air Force spokeswoman. "The planes are filled."
     To combat attrition, the Air Force is now offering bonuses of up
 to $110,000 for a five-year extension, while pilots who agree to stay
 for less time can qualify for smaller pay bonuses -- $6,000 for one
 year, $9,000 for two years and $12,000 for three years.
     Bonuses and hazard pay can raise an average pilot's salary to
 about $90,000. Still, over a 20-year career, an Air Force pilot
 averages $66,000 a year, compared with $111,000 for a commercial
 airline pilot.
     The Air Force also is moving to fill some desk jobs -- now held
 by pilots frustrated by being out of the cockpit -- with Air Force
 personnel who don't fly. And Air Force officials are trying to reduce
 overseas assignments for pilots, including for military exercises.
     Ryan, who graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1965, said
 pilots are more family-oriented since his days of flying missions
 over North Vietnam: 70 percent are married now compared with 30
 percent then.
     On other topics, Ryan said:
 --He remains confident Congress won't balk at approving funding this
 year for production of the first two F-22s, the Air Force's next
 generation fighter. The $62.1 billion program is eight months behind
 schedule.
 --There should be another round of base closures, something Defense
 Secretary William Cohen wants but Congress is reluctant to approve.
 Ryan said there has been a force reduction military-wide of 40 per-
 cent in the past few years, but a base reduction of only about half
 that. "It left us with a very thin distribution of our forces," he
 said, arguing that selected bases should be built up and others
 closed.
 --Some overseas bases should be built up with more support facilities
 as domestic ones are closed. Without naming specific locations, he
 argued the military has become an "expeditionary business," with U.S.
 forces operating around the world, from Asia to Saudi Arabia.
 --The Air Force isn't ready to become an Aerospace Force yet,
 defending American interests beyond the planet. Now, the military
 conducts intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance from satel-
 lites, but Ryan said there's no space threat -- or capacity to
 operate up there.
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