Aircraft

Two planes nearly collided at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport this week as one aircraft took off just above another that had landed, federal officials said. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the near-collision, which occurred at the intersection of two runways at 7:20 p.m. Sunday. The investigation of the "runway incursion" is focusing on possible mistakes by air traffic controllers in the tower, not pilot error, said a spokesman with the Federal Aviation Administration.

Louis Feraud, 79, the fashion designer who came to prominence when he began designing for Brigitte Bardot in the 1950s, died Tuesday in Paris.Martha McKenney, 90, who with her husband sold their ice cream parlors in Atlanta to move to the Florida Keys and open what now is one of the oldest marine attractions in the United States, died Dec. 22 in Miami. The surviving founder of Theater by the Sea in Islamorada, she was often host to the powerful or famous at the attraction, where visitors can learn about the Everglades or swim with dolphins and stingrays.

WASHINGTON -- In an effort to increase the attacks on Serbian ground troops in Kosovo, the Pentagon added 82 U.S. aircraft to the NATO air armada attacking Yugoslavia yesterday, saying that dozens of other alliance planes were expected in the coming days.In the package are 34 combat aircraft, including two dozen U.S. Air Force F-16CJ Flying Falcons, equipped with anti-radiation missiles designed to take out air defenses, and four A-10 Thunderbolt II "Warthogs," which target tanks and other armor.

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon plans to approve the deployment of 300 additional warplanes in the fight against Yugoslavia, deepening American involvement so significantly that President Clinton will almost certainly have to call up reserves for the first time, senior officials said yesterday.The added planes, which were requested by NATO's supreme commander, Gen. Wesley K. Clark, would increase the number of American and NATO aircraft committed to the campaign to nearly 1,000. That is more than double the number -- 430 -- that the alliance had on hand when it began the strikes March 24.Clark's request would increase the American contribution by 60 percent, from nearly 500 to 800.With the expansion, the Air Force would need to rely on reservists to provide crews for the aircraft, particularly the aerial refuelers, a senior defense official said.

WASHINGTON -- In challenging allied aircraft almost daily over Iraqi no-fly zones, Saddam Hussein may have unwittingly handed the United States a strategy that could lead to his own downfall: Bomb until his military overthrows him.Since the four-day Operation Desert Fox attack on Iraq in December, U.S. and British planes have conducted more than 100 bombing strikes, including eight yesterday, in response to Iraqi provocations.Recently, the allies have expanded the target list to go beyond those that pose immediate threats to aircraft -- such as radar and missile sites -- to attack targets more valuable to Hussein, such as communications facilities and headquarters.

Considered the Chevy Caprice of the skies, the plane that disappeared en route to Martha's Vineyard carrying John F. Kennedy Jr. was a high-performance aircraft he bought just three months ago -- one year after he had received a license to fly.The Piper Saratoga II HP, a single-engine, low-winged plane with retractable landing gear, could seat up to six and, according to industry experts, has had a good safety record since it was first manufactured in...

Arthur Raymond, whose aircraft designs ushered in an era of global air travel, died Monday in Santa Monica, Calif. He would have turned 100 Wednesday. He was largely responsible for the design of Douglas Aircraft's DC-3, which was the world's most popular plane for more than two decades.Viacheslav Chornovil, 61, one of Ukraine's most prominent politicians and a former Soviet political prisoner, died Thursday in an automobile accident near Kiev. He was the longtime leader of the opposition Popular Rukh movement and a key figure in Ukraine's fight for independence from the Soviet Union.

The lives of 132 people on board USAir Flight 427 ended in a sudden, explosive nose-dive into the woods outside Pittsburgh, a routine landing gone terribly wrong.For 4 1/2 years, federal investigators have tried to determine why the Boeing 737 rolled onto its back, then spiraled to the ground, and this week the investigation should end. Government officials will consider a final report placing the blame for Flight 427's demise.That report could have an impact on more than 132 families. If it proceeds as expected, the National Transportation Safety Board could touch off a resounding tremor through the entire passenger airline industry -- labeling the world's most popular commercial aircraft a safety hazard, and demanding sweeping, expensive modifications to one of its flight control systems.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. durable goods orders fell last month for the first time in five months, government figures showed yesterday.Orders for higher-priced, long-lasting goods such as automobiles, machinery and weapons decreased 1.3 percent last month to $204.9 billion, the Commerce Department said. Analysts said the decline, after a 1 percent increase in August, signaled a pause rather than a slowdown in manufacturing."Once you take out aircraft, the report is still consistent with more growth," said David Wyss, an economist at Standard & Poor's DRI in Lexington, Mass.

SPRINGFIELD, Va. -- Federal investigators probing a 1994 USAir crash that killed 132 cast doubt on the safety of the world's most widely used commercial aircraft yesterday, suggesting that the Boeing 737 might have a fatal design flaw.Safety experts also questioned whether design changes already ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration have worked, noting that some 737s with the modifications have still reported unexpected problems in flight.The investigation has "raised questions in many minds about the design and operation of the 737's rudder system," said Jim Hall, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board at a hearing here on the crash.

Shares of Textron Inc., the owner of Hunt Valley-based defense contractor AAI Corp., rose almost 50 percent Thursday after Kuwait's Al-Watan newspaper reported that a United Arab Emirates group is preparing to buy the maker of Cessna aircraft and Bell helicopters for $21 a share. Providence, R.I.-based Textron surged $4.45, or 49 percent, to $13.56 on the New York Stock Exchange. A deal at $21 would value the company at $5.1 billion based on 242.9 million outstanding shares. After an inquiry from the NYSE, Textron responded that it doesn't comment on market rumors.

The Maryland State Police grounded its fleet of medical evacuation helicopters yesterday as investigators tried to determine the cause of a late-night crash in Prince George's County that killed four people, the deadliest accident since the force started flying medevac missions 38 years ago. The aircraft's pilot, who died along with a crew member, a civilian medic and a patient, asked to change his landing site in radio communications shortly before the...

DALLAS -- Southwest Airlines Co. resumed normal operations yesterday, a day after the carrier had to cancel 126 flights while it hurriedly performed overlooked inspections on several dozen jets. However, not all of the 38 airplanes removed from service Wednesday returned to the skies yesterday, the carrier said. "Four of the aircraft were held for surface repairs," spokeswoman Brandy King said. "We expect to have them back in service by the weekend." The airline had grounded the 38 airplanes to inspect portions of their fuselages for cracks.

Two planes nearly collided at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport this week as one aircraft took off just above another that had landed, federal officials said. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the near-collision, which occurred at the intersection of two runways at 7:20 p.m. Sunday. The investigation of the "runway incursion" is focusing on possible mistakes by air traffic controllers in the tower, not pilot error, said a spokesman with the Federal Aviation Administration.

WASHINGTON -- You think your gasoline costs are high? Every time the price at the pump jumps a nickel, it causes budgetary heartburn for the U.S. Air Force, whose gas-guzzling fleet of nearly 6,000 aircraft devours about 7 million gallons of fuel a day. The cost of a fill-up for a B-52 bomber, an eight-engine behemoth that holds nearly 48,000 gallons of jet fuel, can easily surpass $100,000. A sleek F-16 fighter sucks up more than $300 worth of fuel a minute when it kicks in its afterburners and blasts through the sound barrier.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. military's top weapons buyer has approved signing a three-year contract with Lockheed Martin Corp. and United Technologies Corp.'s Pratt & Whitney engine unit for 60 F-22A Raptor warplanes, engines and spare parts, a package worth as much as $10 billion. Approval of the three-year contract locks the military into purchases and minimizes chances that quantities would be cut in annual congressional budget deliberations. $65.2 billion program The Pentagon in 2005 capped the program at 183 aircraft.

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN -- President Gen. Pervez Musharraf survived an apparent assassination attempt yesterday when shots were fired at his aircraft as it took off from a military base, authorities and witnesses said. It was not immediately clear whether there was any connection between the shooting incident and the continuing siege by Pakistani troops of a radical mosque here in the capital. At least 19 people are reported to have died in the mosque confrontation, which began Tuesday. Pakistan has been gripped by a sense of crisis over the past four months as a burgeoning pro-democracy movement has challenged Musharraf's attempts to sideline the chief justice of the Supreme Court, who might have posed an obstacle to the president's efforts to secure another term of leadership virtually unchallenged.

WASHINGTON --Documents captured from Iraqi insurgents indicate that some of the recent fatal attacks against U.S. helicopters are the result of a carefully planned strategy to focus on downing coalition aircraft, one that U.S. officials say has been carried out by mounting coordinated assaults with machine guns, rockets and surface-to-air missiles. The documents, which are said to have been drafted by al-Qaida in Mesopotamia, show that the militants were preparing to "concentrate on the air force."

The holidays might have passed, but for several local families, the festivities began yesterday, when 39 men and women from the Maryland Air National Guard stepped off a C-130J aircraft at Warfield Air National Guard Base in Middle River. "Tonight we are going to Maggiano's," said Esther Strawder-Payton of Rosedale shortly before her son, Sgt. Dallas Perry, 23, landed at the base. "We are just going to eat pasta and hang out for a long time." Several of Perry's family members waited with her, holding helium balloons, including a pink one that read "Happy Birthday" - a day Perry had missed while away, along with Christmas.

Frederick W. Schech, a retired aircraft worker who prided himself on perfect job attendance for 37 years, died of heart disease Thursday at his daughter's Finksburg home. He was 88 and had lived in Belair-Edison for many years. Born in Baltimore and raised in Highlandtown, he attended Sacred Heart of Jesus Parochial School and was a graduate of a city vocational school. He took a job as a riveter at the Glenn L. Martin Co. and rose to become a supervisor at its Middle River plant. Family members said he worked 37 years without missing a day. "When Cal Ripken made his record, it was nowhere near my father's record for consecutive days at work," said his son, F. Glenn Schech of Essex.