
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, July 2, 1990                   TAG: 9007020171
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Medium

SAFETY BOARD URGED TO CITE USAIR CAPTAIN

The National Transportation Safety Board reportedly is being urged by its investigative staff to cite the captain of USAir Flight 5050 for being the principal cause of the fatal Sept. 20 crash at LaGuardia Airport that killed a Vinton, Va., woman and her daughter-in-law.

Government sources, who are familiar with the staff recommendation, cautioned that the board could alter the staff's recommendation when the four sitting members meet Tuesday at a public hearing in Washington.

In addition, the board may decide that Boeing Co.'s design of an important directional control also contributed to the accident. The board frequently changes the wording or sometimes even the thrust of staff recommendations.

Ayles Brogan of Vinton, Va., and her daughter-in-law, Betsy Hayter Brogan of Johnson City, Tenn., were killed when the jet skidded off a runway and plunged into Bowery Bay after the captain, Michael Martin, aborted the takeoff because the plane was veering to the left.

After the accident, a directional control, known as the rudder trim, was found in the far-left position, rather than neutral, as usually required. The co-pilot, Constantine Kleissas, handled the takeoff, while Martin was responsible for verifying the position of the rudder trim before the takeoff.

Investigators suspect that the plane veered to the left because of the improperly set trim, which moves the tail rudder on the the Boeing 737-400 jet.

USAir and the Air Line Pilots Association, a pilots' union, submitted reports to the board that did not cite actions by the crew, but simply suggested that the plane crashed because the rudder trim control was set full left for unknown reasons, while a contributory cause was faulty design of the rudder trim control.

Boeing has redesigned the rudder trim control since the crash to make it more difficult to set accidentally. Boeing has also submitted a report to the safety board, but declined to release it publicly before the hearing.

by CNB