Safety Board

WASHINGTON - A federal safety agency, alarmed by high numbers of near-collisions between planes on U.S. runways, recommended yesterday that pilots stop at every runway intersection - a move that could slow the pace of airport operations. The National Transportation Safety Board also expanded its long-standing call for the Federal Aviation Administration to design a warning system that would keep planes from encroaching on one another while taxiing around an airport. The FAA had no immediate response but said it would take a close look at the safety board's recommendations.

WASHINGTON -- The Transportation Department has decided to seek new rules requiring fire safety equipment in all airline cargo compartments, officials said Thursday night.Hearings are to begin Monday into the crash of a ValuJet DC-9 that investigators believe could have been prevented by such equipment.The National Transportation Safety Board had long sought such equipment, including heat sensors, smoke detectors and fire extinguishing systems, but had been turned down by the Federal Aviation Administration, which considered the benefit too low to justify the cost.

NEW YORK -- The FBI's lead investigator in the crash of TWA Flight 800 said yesterday that he now believes it is "less likely that a bomb or a missile" caused the plane to explode, killing all 230 people on board.His statement represents the first time that the FBI has backed away from its long-held position that a criminal act was as likely a cause for the crash off Long Island as a mechanical failure.Because 95 percent of the jet's wreckage has been recovered and none of it shows clear evidence of a bomb or a missile, James Kall-strom, FBI assistant director, said it was now "mathematically less likely" than it was even several weeks ago that investigators will find evidence of a criminal act."

WASHINGTON - Controllers at Los Angeles International Airport were stunned this summer when an arriving jumbo jet narrowly missed a domestic flight cleared to take off on the same runway, a reconstruction showed yesterday. "That was close!" said an unidentified voice on the tower radio frequency, seconds after an Asiana Airlines Boeing 747, arriving from Korea, roared over a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 preparing to depart for Albuquerque on Aug. 19, according to tapes released by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Ten months ago, government safety officials warned that more than half of the nation's 60,000 pressurized rail tank cars did not meet industry standards, and they raised questions about the safety of the rest of the fleet as well. Their worry, that the steel tanks could rupture too easily in an accident, proved prophetic. On Thursday, a derailment in South Carolina caused a catastrophic release of chlorine: eight people died, 58 were hospitalized and hundreds more sought treatment. Thousands of people within a mile of the accident were driven from their homes.

WASHINGTON -- The pilots flew recklessly.The planes were missing crucial safety equipment.Virtually every federal flying rule was ignored.It would be the picture of a terrible airline. But, amazingly, it's a description of the flight operations of the Federal Aviation Administration, the government agency responsible for ensuring the safety of U.S. air carriers.In a little-noticed report, federal safety investigators have charged the FAA with a list of infractions that would scare any passenger, including:* There were no approved manuals for flight operations, maintenance procedures or training programs.

THE JET fuel fires in the World Trade Center towers did not bring down those two buildings. Indeed, the fuel burned up in minutes. Why, then, did the towers and their 44-story neighbor, WTC-7, which was not struck by a plane, collapse? It's a question that bears generally on fire safety, the safety of building occupants and firefighters and the vulnerability of our buildings to terror by fire. I expected the National Response Team of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms would participate in an investigation that I surely thought would follow the Sept.

Reacting to criticism of the state's lax safety oversight by federal investigators probing the fatal train crash in Silver Spring, the head of the Mass Transit Administration yesterday unveiled plans to improve his agency's supervision of MARC operations."

Wings stood off to one side. The propeller lay in a carton. But the main part of Carl Kesselring's pet project was clearly recognizable as an airplane in progress. "I don't have fear of getting in an airplane," he said, standing in a hangar in Suburban Airport in Laurel surrounded by tools, parts and the remains of a bird's nest that fell through a hole in the roof. "I have confidence in my ability to make it work properly. " Kesselring's daring hobby is increasingly shared by other enthusiasts as the number of amateur-built airplanes grows every year, according to the Experimental Aircraft Association.

LOS ANGELES -- The California Legislature's bill that would specifically deal with the same racing safety questions that were raised after the death of Go For Wand at the Breeders' Cup Saturday at Belmont Park in New York will go into effect Jan. 1, but the California Horse Racing Board is wondering where the funds will come from to compile statistics on "injuries, fatalities and comparative accident rates for all racing and training venues . . . and to...