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

DATE: TUESDAY, July 3, 1990                   TAG: 9007030488
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/10   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

PLANE COULD HAVE TAKEN OFF, PROBERS REPORT

Ayles Brogan of Vinton, Va., and her daughter-in-law, Betsy Hayter Brogan of Johnson City, Tenn., were killed in the crash of Flight 5050 Sept. 20 when the Boeing 737 slid into the East River next to LaGuardia airport and broke into pieces. Sixty-one other people were rescued.

Bob Benzon, staff investigator in charge of the crash, said the plane's rudder was set all the way to the left.

But he said, "Enough rudder authority remained to fully control the aircraft during takeoff and in the air."

The National Transportation Safety Board, beginning its final assessment of a staff report on the accident, was to vote later in the day on the probable cause of the crash.

The Federal Aviation Administration suspended the flight certificates of USAir pilot Michael Martin and copilot Constantine Kleissas, who was controlling the takeoff of a Boeing 737 passenger flight for the first time.

The Air Line Pilots Association protested the actions as "totally unwarranted."

But both Martin and Kleissas dropped appeals of the suspension and can fly again if they pass recertification tests.

The FAA said Martin "does not possess the care, skill, judgment and responsibility" of a commercial pilot and cited his failure to fully complete a pre-takeoff checklist and perform other required actions on the taxiway before he ordered the takeoff aborted.

Crash investigators said the rudder was erroneously set all the way to the left, causing the plane to drift to the side during the takeoff attempt, although cockpit communication tapes showed the pilots made all the proper checks.

In February, the FAA ordered a Boeing-designed change in the control panels of 737s to prevent accidental movement of a rudder trim control knob that could reduce the pilot's ability to control the plane.

The changes cost about $830 per plane and affected 641 Boeing 737-300 and 737-400 models worldwide. Although FAA safety orders are not mandatory for foreign carriers, they usually comply.

Boeing began work to redesign the cockpit controls before the crash, following reports that the rudder-control knobs could be affected by visitors in the cockpit placing their feet on the console or a pilot throwing down a manual.

The NTSB conducted a hearing in New York on the USAir crash, taking testimony on rudder control design, cockpit crew training, crew coordination, the effects of the USAir-Piedmont merger, runway design and FAA scrutiny of USAir operations.