Officials Probe Miami Crash
     Federal investigators are hoping data from the so-called "black
 box" can give clues today about the cause of the crash of a cargo
 jet in Miami. The Fine Air cargo jet went down yesterday seconds
 after takeoff from Miami International Airport, scattering flaming
 wreckage through a busy commercial district. All four crew members
 died. National Transportation Safety Board investigators say there
 was no emergency transmission from the pilot. The flight data re-
 corder and cockpit voice recorder were quickly recovered and sent
 to Washington for analysis.
 --------------------------
 Pilot Error in Guam Crash?
     The National Transportation Safety Board says authorities have
 recovered about half of the bodies from the Korean Air Lines jumbo
 jet crash site on Guam. NTSB official Matt Furman said today the
 removal of the bodies from the mangled wreckage has been "very hard
 and dangerous" because of the heat and hilly jungle terrain.
     Officials say 227 people died in the crash, while 27 survived.
 In Washington, NTSB officials have made an initial analysis of the
 flight data and cockpit voice recorders. The Washington Post today
 quotes sources as saying there appears to have been no mechanical
 problems, suggesting pilot error as the crash cause.
 ---------------------------------------------------- larm sounded before 
crash of Korean jet
 Recorder indicates pilots unaware
     AGANA, Guam (CNN) -- The flight data recorder recovered from the
 wreckage of Korean Air Flight 801 indicates that an alarm sounded
 just before the Boeing 747 slammed into a hilltop, according to the
 National Transportation Safety Board.
     But the lack of conversation by the cockpit crew may be an
 indication that the pilot was unaware of the immediate danger. That
 adds to the evidence that pilot error could have caused Wednesday's
 crash that killed at least 225 of the 254 people on board.
     NTSB member George Black, who is leading the investigation on
 the ground in Guam, said Friday morning that the pilots didn't say
 much in the moments before the crash, but an alarm was triggered.
     "The conversation on the voice recorder was minimal, but on the
 data recorder a ground proximity alarm did sound before impact,"
 Black said.
     Although the cockpit voice recorder was undamaged by the acci-
 dent, the age of the device and the language of the pilots has
 slowed the analysis.
     "Much of the conversation is in Korean, but we have people en
 route to Washington to help us understand what is on the voice
 recorder," Black said.
     "It's also an older type recorder that is not the best quality."
 The undamaged flight data recorder was also recovered, he said.
     "The data recorder has given us pretty good data," Black said.
 "It is being refined, it is digital and there is some noise in it,
 and we are having to smooth that data out."
 -------------------------------------------         Air Force admits it's 
running out of spare parts
              Pentagon calls the problem 'short-term'
     WASHINGTON (CNN)  August 7, 1997 -- A week after reporting that
 the U.S. Air Force is losing many of its best pilots to expanding
 commercial airlines, CNN has learned that the lack of spare parts
 has grounded many of the service's combat planes.
     The Air Force likes to have at least 85 percent of its combat
 fighter planes, like the F-15 Eagle, ready and able to fly at all
 times. It aims for a slightly lower 80 percent "ready-rate" for the
 overall fleet.
     But a lack of spare parts has clipped the wings of many of the
 Air Force's 4,500 planes.
     The percentage of planes that are what the Air Force calls "full
 mission capable" has dropped every year in the past five years, from
 84 percent in 1992 to 79 percent this year.
     Nearly one-third of one base's F-16s are grounded
     In an internal report from one Air Force base obtained by CNN,
 a commander writes, "We're fighting a decline in our maintenance
 stats caused primarily by parts shortages."
     He notes that almost 30 percent of his F-16s are grounded, and
 cites the lack of parts for F-110 engines and LANTIRN targeting
 systems as "especially troubling."
     Among the steps being taken are putting more money into main-
 tenance operations immediately, and streamlining delivery of engine
 parts from suppliers. Next year, the Air Force is ordering more
 parts to begin with.
     While the temptation is to think that the parts shortage is the
 result of deep defense cuts, Pentagon officials insist that the
 shortfall is a short-term problem. They say it poses no threat to
 U.S. security, and that if a battle like the Persian Gulf War were
 to break out, the Air Force would be ready.
 ------------------------------------
  3 die when ultralight planes collide
     ARLINGTON, Washington -- Two ultralight planes burst into flames
 after colliding and crashing into a pea field Thursday, killing the
 three people aboard the crafts.
     The Federal Aviation Administration has no jurisdiction over
 them, and neither pilot licenses nor aircraft inspections are
 required. The FAA estimates there are 15,000 to 40,000 ultralights
 nationwide. Less than a week ago, a man making his first solo flight
 in an ultralight died when the plane struck a tree as he tried to
 land at Springdale, Washington. There were at least three fatal
 ultralight accidents in Washington state last year.
 ---------------------------------------------------
       WASHINGTON -- It was pilot error that caused a Korean Air Boeing
 747 to crash into a jungle hillside in Guam, killing 225 people, NBC
 News has learned.
     The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder, both exam-
 ined in Washington on Thursday, confirmed a monumental mistake,
 investigators said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
     Hager reports that the flight data recorders reveal the pilots
 thought they were headed for a normal landing and the cause of this
 crash is so obvious that investigators say the investigation won't
 be lengthy.
     Report says they were homing on a beacon on the hill rather than
 one located on the runway.
--- DB 1.39/004487
---------------