Death in the Skies

THE AIR

Air pollution is not the only health hazard in the skies. The nation's overcrowded airways, already clogged by 2,600 commercial and 120,000 private aircraft, pose a more direct threat to life. Last week a single-engine Piper Cherokee, piloted by a plumber on a solo training flight, lopped off the tail section of an Allegheny Airlines DC-9 as the jetliner headed for a landing at Indianapolis' Weir Cook Airport. Eighty-three persons were killed, including the pilot of the private plane. It was the 19th time this year that two planes have collided and the 58th time since the start of 1968.

Significantly, all of the collisions have involved at least one private plane. This statistic points up the urgent need for better regulation of small craft, most of which lack the sophisticated electronic navigation and safety equipment required by the Federal Aviation Administration for commercial airliners. Indianapolis air-traffic controllers say that the small plane in last week's collision, for example, was not detected by airport radar. Had it been equipped (as all commercial carriers are) with a transponder that bounces back a strong radar echo, it might well have been spotted by ground controllers in time for a warning call that would have averted the collision.

Two days after the Indianapolis disaster, the very same flight--Allegheny 853--came perilously close to another mid-air collision with a light plane while departing Greater Cincinnati Airport. Fortunately, in this instance the unidentified light plane suddenly showed up on airport radar when the two craft were within five to ten seconds of crashing--just enough time to warn the jetliner away.

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