OCR Text |
Show I'jyo I 2 1111 DAM 111 RAI D, l'uno, l i.ih. Suiul.iv Jul) IW Fatal yltraligrst crashes raise safety queswot Bv MAR'l HA MKNDOZA Ultrc!E2its Anmu'i.iIcJ Press Wilier AUiUQUERQUR, N.M. (AIM Witnesses recall hearing mi engine sputter and "a loud pup" the sounds of William Donaldson's ultralight airplane stalling above the forest, spinning into a nose dive and crashing. Donaldson loved these singlaircraft, and no wonder. Under the right conditions, they oiler birdlike (light you e-seat move slowly, aloft, with clear, wide views uncluttered hy panels or propellers. Under the wrong conditions, you can go straight down. That's what happened Oct. a 29, 199(i, to Donaldson pilot from Waynesboro, Va., who did not have a pilot's license, flying a homo-buiplane that had never undergone a safety inspection. Neither is required hy the putt-puttin- g lt Federal Aviation Administration. Despite Donaldson's death, FAA aviation and flight inspector Bill Cook says the regulations are "working to perfection." Simply put, it has been the FAA's position that if these folks are foolish enough to risk their lives in these tiny planes, the federal government will not get in the way. "There's been no one injured or killed, to our knowledge, as the result of an ult ralight vehicle crash" who wasn't on board, Cook said. "In that respect, these may be the best rules we've over written." An AP computer-assiste- d review of FAA and National Transportation and Safety Board databases, local law enforcement records, ultralight news and organizations accounts found that Donaldson was one of about 30 people to die during the past year in an ultralight in the United States. Ultralight makers, insurers and enthusiasts say if the FAA engine that up with a starter. FAA rules for ultralights prohibit passengers; require pilots to always be able to see the ground; forbid flights in darkness or over congested areas or controlled airspace; and limit fuel to 5 gallons, speed to 55 knots(63 mph), and weight, unloaded, to less than 254 pounds. But the planes are not registered. And when people die, no official records are kept. Between 1983 and 1984 the Inst time the federal government gathered statistics the fatality rates of ultralights were six times higher than in engine, general aviation planes, according to the NTSB. In 1985 the NTSB issued a warning that ultralight rules had "serious deficiencies" and urged the FAA to implement tougher standards.- The FAA did not budge. "The result of the FAA's failure to act? Moradeaths, stifling a potentially very nice industry and damage to general aviation as a whole," said Chuck AVEMCO at Hubbard, Insurance Co, in Frederick, Md. The FAA disagrees. motorcycle-size- Cost $6,000 (crude construction materials) to $15,000 (bolted together). Weigh less than 254 pounds, Are not capable of traveling more than 63 mph (55 knots). Have only one seat. May only operate dur- ing daylight. May not fly over gested areas. con- More than 30,000 people have received some ultralight flight training. does not require pilot training nor safety inspections for ultralights. The FAA does require pilot licenses and safety inspections for almost all other aircraft, including hot air balloons, seaplanes, blimps, experimental aircraft, gliders and helicopters. FAA would single-pisto- tighten its rules, the number of deaths reduced. At their urging, the agency plans to consider a proposal that, in essence, would establish a new classification of ultralights. They would be larger and faster, and would require some pilot training and safety inspections. "It's the American dream that we can ride off into the sunset, even if it's over a cliff. These new rules wouldn't prevent that, but they would give a guy more opportunities for training," said Tom Gunnarson, who chairs the committee and is director of safety and training for the U.S. Ultralight Association in Frederick, Md. The FAA has estimates that nationwide, there are 15,000 to bo could 40,000 ultralights single-sea- his plane's tail, sending it straight down. Tappe grabbed the controls but "the controls didn't work." With incredibly quick think- - e The Virginian-Pilo- t In WASHINGTON October 1986, a Soviet submarine loaded with nuclear-tippemissiles suddenly surfaced in the Atlantic east of Bermuda. Obviously in distress after an apparent explosion and fire, the sub vented smoke and was closely watched by the U.S. military. After valiant rescue efforts, the crew scuttled the sub sending an unknown number of seamen to their graves. That much is known, and undisputed. But now a now d movie that was "inspired by producers say n the chilling true story" provides an account of the sub's demise that has U.S. Navy officials seeing rod. The HBO film, "Hostile Waters," alleges that an American sub given the ficunwittional name "Aurora" tingly helped send the Soviet who an HBO press release says went to Moscow to interview Igor Britanov, captain of the ship to its grave. In the celluloid account, starring Max von Sydow as the Soviet captain and Martin Sheen as the Aurora's skipper, the Aurora collided with the Soviet vessel when the Russians executed an evasive maneuver to shake their American shadow. The bump allegedly triggered a series of events that led LT MSdmSS -- . ' - v ... I. (Vj 4 tti ygtf.! RICK Kl'NION The Associated Press Fatal crash: Winter Haven, Fla., firefighter Andrea Brennan sprays foam on the wreckage of an ultralight aircraft that crashed earlier this year. The pilot, Ivor "Jim" Lee II of Ohio, died when his plane crashed into a mobile home. ing and deft engine control, Tfcppe pulled his "old taildrag-gijr- " back up, brought it around and landed. It was only thea that he Hamilton David spotted Hollifield, 59, of Shreveport, climbing out of his ultralight that was hung up in a nearby tree. Hollifield's ultralight had ' rolled over on top of Tappe's plane. Neither man was injured. Amazingly, they are friends, and Hollifield, a novice pilot, had recently bought his ultralight from Tappe. Tappe, who has been flying for the past 32 years, said ultralight pilots need radios and "some kind of basic flight instruction." It's not as if the federal government is indifferent to personal risk "There are plenty of federal laws out there to prevent unnecessary death and injury," notes Mary Ellen Fise, for council the general 5 This JOSEPH, Ore. (AP) may be a new one for the insurance company: A 2,000-poun- d bull falls and totals a woman's car. Elizabeth Hanks was driving on a narrow, winding road in Consumer a obtain Certificate." of Federation America in Washington, D.C. For example, the government works to make Americans safer by limiting drinking and smoking. But not ultralight avi- "Sports Pilot Enthusiasts say the new standards would make today's ultralights virtually obsolete, because it would be easier, safer and less expensive to fly a slightly heavier, faster craft. The FAA now requires people flying aircraft heavier or faster than ultralight maximums to qualify medically, train 40 hours, pass tests and get a regular pilot's license, a process few ultralight enthusiasts can afford or are willing to go through. Instead, they opt to "either fly illegally or fly unsafely," said Andy Gold of Los Lunas, N.M., a sales representative for Quicksilver, the largest ultralight manufacturer in the United States.. "Anybody in the world can get in these things and try to teach ation. "The FAA's attitude has always been: If you want to go kill yourselves, you can, just as long as you're not injuring the innocent public," said Hubbard, the insurance man and an ultralight pilot himself. Since 1992, an FAA advisory committee of ultralight enthusiasts, insurers, manufacturers and consumers has been working to change that. slated to Their proposal reach the FAA for consideration would not this summer change ultralight regulations now in place. It would, however, require people who want to fly ultraligaircraft that exceed ht-type the current weight and speed rules to train for 15 hours and themselves to fly, " he said. New regulations, he said, could save people from their own mistakes. the when mountains she the windshield, and then I don't I must have lost conknow sciousness for a few minutes," the woman said. "It was a lot of bull and a lot of shattered glass." noticed two black angus range bulls sparring on an embankment 20 feet above her car. "The last thing I remember is the bull coming in through iamonds for you, worried this week that the movie will inspire a jegjonfof conspiracy theorists whtf will accept its claims as true and dismiss all evidence the Navy can provide to the contrary. That is exactly what happened in the case of claims by former newsman Pierre misSalinger that a Navy-firesile downed TWA Flight 800 off Long Island last year, he denies that any U.S. submarine collided with the submarine or that the U.S. Navy had anything to do" with whatever happened, said Rear Adm. Kendell Pease, the Navy's senior spokesman. The movie will premiere July 26 on the cable TV network. It is a dramatization of a book by the same name to be published later this month. The book's authors include Peter Huchthausen, a former U.S. naval attache in Moscow IS A Soviet sub. Pease, who said he reviewed Navy records to satisfy himself that no U.S. ship was involved, to an explosion and fire. "The U.S. Navy categorically IT" Bull falls off embankment, totals car below strongly disputes sugges it's responsible for Soviet sub aces sxjavy Bv DAl.K KISMAN 3 "i if J j n ty good system in place at this time," said Hank Price, an FAA spokesman in Washington, D.C. "They're not putting anyone in harm except for themselves," he said. Tell that to Raymond Dale Tappe. Tappe, 64, of Shreveport, La., took a jaunt in his fixed wing Aeronca not an ultralight last Oct. 12. He was 200 feet in the air, traveling at about 80 mph and making a final approach to a local, grassy airfield, when something smacked aircraft with parachute-typwings, a long, narrow aluminium tube for a body and a -- ,t!i pull-strin- g "We feel like we've got a pret- t . d fires $orJio d forever. acknowledged. "You put a movie on TV and no matter what I say, we're going to have to deal with it," Pease complained. Another Navy official said that the Augusta, a U.S. attack sub, was several hundred miles from the Soviet sub when the disaster occurred. 12 CT. round K center. 14K1 38 CT. center princes enh?1-tapere- 5. ! v d I" 14K N.Y. Times 1399 puts comics on its Web site ...v J NEW YORK ( AP) Visitors to The New York Times' Web nL "Dilbert"? PlmFREE Portrait frssas (WITH rUICHS) Comes in Your Choke fihKeqsoki ofHtt Portrait. Colon f1" !? V ACTU"-- f 4 siZEWZ 12 CT. brilliant solitaire in white and yellow suspended rfSaise center, 14Kt. gold. rfvid,l2CT.T.W. ONLY (a?f 07I i r n. J 1 site are confronted with a dilemma the Times reader never faces: "Doonesbury" or which The newspaper to run refuses steadfastly added comics in its pages comics to its cyberspace outpost this week. Trudeau's Garry "Doonesbury" and Scott Adams' "Dilbert" were joined by political cartoons and a daily "Cybertoon about the computer world. "This is our sandbox," said Martin Nisenholtz, president of The New York Times Electronic Media Co. "We can stretch and do some things over here that they might not do in the paper." is J Mt& Plus S5 J 95 Per Subject 100 N. University Provo, Utah 375-522- Where you approve pom, saes & backgrounds! Subject fee ol $3.5 par pmnon photogroptwd, payoM fokn. 1NO limn on me niPHf 01 oavonited gjff-- Mon. 10 a.m. 1971-199- 26 0 - Sat. - 6 p.m. 7 I E W E I E R S Years of Originality tr PoariMiT stuoui collclKni family, but only on ooWtind collection per wbiect. please Additional poiet laden for optional portrait collection wiih no approximate obligation lo purchaie Portrait NrmtNT eTumae THE FOLLOWING KMART HAS A STUDIO OPEN 5 DAYS On Sunday 10AM 6PM Wed. - Sat. 10AM-7POREM -- $W OptfoW h POOR. O |