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

DATE: SATURDAY, April 6, 1991                   TAG: 9104060050
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MERION, PA.                                LENGTH: Short

PA. CRASH CAUSE STILL UNKNOWN

Pilots for U.S. Sen. John Heinz III had been told twice their landing gear was OK when the crew of a helicopter took a third look and the aircraft collided, killing seven people, a federal official said Friday.

Susan Coughlin, National Transportation Safety Board vice chairman, said there was no immediate explanation for the decision by the helicopter pilots to look again. There also was no preliminary indication of what caused the collision, she said.

The senator, his two pilots and the two pilots in the helicopter were killed. Two children on a school playground also were killed by the burning wreckage.

Residents of the area questioned why the two aircraft should have been allowed to fly close to each other over a residential area.

"If they had just waited a few minutes, it could have been done over the airport, or the Delaware River, or someplace that would not have endangered the lives of residents or schoolchildren," said William Parry, an attorney whose backyard is next to the schoolyard.

Coughlin said close-order flying by helicopters and fixed wing planes is "done all the time" and that there are no regulations prohibiting it. As to one plane performing visual checks for another while in close formation, she said, "It's been done before."

She added, "We have absolutely no indication that there was any break in the procedure from air traffic control."

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB