Plane

One of the lessons learned in the Persian Gulf war was the importance of airlift -- the ability to pack a cargo plane with military gear and respond to a crisis anywhere in the world on very short notice.The plane the Air Force is counting on to perform such missions in the future is the C-17, and its development is moving ahead even as the Defense Department is slashing other programs. That bodes well for McDonnell Douglas Corp., the plane's prime contractor, and the Martin Marietta Corp.

A Columbia couple were rescued uninjured by members of the Maryland Air National Guard yesterday morning after their single-engine plane crashed into a creek as it was taking off from Martin State Airport.Four members of the Guard's 175th Fighter Group based at Martin were conducting water survival training when the four-seat Piper Cherokee Arrow lost power and crashed in Frog Mortar Creek off Strawberry Point at 11:25 a.m."We were down on the beach when all of a sudden, we heard this noise," Lt. Col. Tommy O'Sullivan said in a statement released by the Guard.

A tiny plane resembling a motorized glider that crashed in Carroll County on Saturday night, killing the pilot, had been fitted with a second fuel tank that likely contributed to the crash, state police said yesterday.Investigators yesterday discovered the second fuel tank -- added after the purchase of the plane -- and speculated that the weight of the tank and up to 5 gallons of fuel it holds might have led to the crash in a remote, wooded area that killed pilot John F. Harrison, 33, of Union Bridge about 7: 45 p.m. Saturday near Roop Road and Kimberly Drive just north of Mount Airy.

A small, privately owned airplane crashed in a soybean field yesterday morning, critically injuring the pilot as he attempted a landing at Lee Airport near Edgewater and scattering parts in a residential neighborhood as the aircraft hit several trees. The pilot and lone occupant, Ralph Dilks, 64, of Cape May, N.J., was pulled unconscious from the wreckage by several area residents who heard the crash shortly before 10 a.m. Witnesses said Dilks had serious head injuries from the impact, which left the cockpit obliterated.

An investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board has ruled out an "in-flight breakup" or fire as the cause of the Baltimore County plane crash that killed three Harford County men Saturday morning, an official said yesterday. Pilot Theodore C. Ryder, 45, Paul E. Sorensen, 48, and Timothy H. Conner, 48, all of Joppa, were aboard a six-seat Piper Saratoga that took off from Harford County Airport in Churchville at 9:06 a.m. Saturday. The three NASCAR fans were headed to Abingdon, Va., to attend a car race in Bristol, Tenn.

Q: I have a Spirit of St. Louis model plane made of metal that was manufactured by the Metalcraft Corp. of St. Louis and that was bought sometime between 1928 and 1930. The plane's rudder and landing gear are missing, and its wooden tail wheel was worn out. Where can I find the missing parts?A: Collectors of Spirit of St. Louis and Charles Lindbergh memorabilia belong to the C.A.L./NX-211 Collectors Society (which stands for Charles A. Lindbergh and the registration number of his plane). Annual membership and monthly newsletter are $12 from Sallie G. Fowler, 6 Todd Drive, North Haven, Conn.

A single-engine airplane crashed into a split-level house in Brockbridge last night, leaving the pilot with severe head injuries, but harming no one in the house, authorities said.The pilot, Gary Hankins, 45, of the 300 block of Dameron St., Maryland City, was flown to the Prince George's Hospital Center. He later was listed in critical, but stable condition.Randy Franklin, who lives across the street from where the Ultra Light aircraft crashed in the 3500 block of River Bridge Way, was in his garden when the plane come down shortly before 6:30 p.m. "I just heard two or three pops, like shotguns when the engine gave out and then it died and glided right into the house," said Mr. Franklin, 34."

The Federal Aviation Administration has launched an investigation to determine why a single-engine plane crashed into a house in the 3500 block of River Bridge Way in Brockbridge Tuesday evening, a spokeswoman for the agency confirmed yesterday.Joan Brown, the spokeswoman, said an FAA inspector went to Suburban Airport in Laurel to examine the plane about noon yesterday, the first step in what she said would be a "lengthy investigation."FAA investigators have not interviewed the pilot of the plane, Gary Hankins, 45, of the 300 block of Dameron St. in Maryland City.

MERRILLVILLE, Ind. -- The American Eagle plane that crashed Monday night took an unexplained dip to the right, recovered, dipped again and turned upside down just before it plunged to the ground, killing all 68 people aboard, the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said at a briefing last night.Data from the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder from Flight 4184 showed that the plane began descending probably in response to instruction radioed to the pilots from the ground.