2 The Daily Tar HeelMonday, March 20, 1989
World and Nation
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FAA
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From Associated Press reports
WASHINGTON Terrorism
warnings issued by the Federal
Aviation Administration before the
bombing of Pan American Flight 103
over Scotland were largely ineffective
and sometimes "dangerously inaccu
rate," the head of a House subcom
mittee said Sunday.
Rep. Cardiss Collins, D-Ill., chair
woman of the House Government
Operations subcommittee on govern
ment activities and transportation,
voiced the criticism in releasing an
analysis of 33 FAA security bulletins
issued between Jan. 1, 1988, and Feb.
16 of this year.
The panel found that at least six
of the security bulletins contained
information that may be linked to the
Dec. 21, 1988, bombing of the Pan
Am plane, which killed 270 people.
N Investigators have concluded that the
jet was blown up by plastic explosive
hidden inside a radio-casette player.
"Regrettably, these and other FAA
bulletins were sometimes untimely,
sometimes dangerously inaccurate
and almost completely devoid of
effective and specific instructions for
countering possible threats," Rep.
Collins said. "Some bulletins recom
mended actions that were pointless
or even absurd."
She added: "Taken as a group, the(
FAA bulletins failed to provide
meaningful guidance to airlines faced
with the risk of terrorist attack."
The subcommittee focused partic
ular attention on a warning written
on Nov. 17, following the arrest in
West Germany three weeks earlier of
members of the Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine-General
Command.
The bulletin described a bomb
found in the raids plastic explosive
hidden inside a radio-cassette player
with a barometric-pressure detonator
designed to explode the device at a
preset altitude.
According to the subcommittee,
that bulletin mistakenly advised that
the PFLP-GC "has not been known
to undertake terrorist attacks in
Europe."
A recent Defense Department
study said the Palestinian group had
machine-gunned an airliner in
Zurich, hijacked two other airliners
bound for European cities and
warned in 1986 that "there will be
no safety for any traveler" on a U.S.
airliner.
The FAA bulletin said its informa
tion about the bomb was based on
"preliminary analyses by West Ger
man authorities."
"It is difficult to understand why
explosive experts needed more than
three weeks to complete an urgently
needed analysis of this device," the
subcommittee said. "Either the West
Germans lacked the required techni
cal skills (which is unlikely) or West
German-FAA communications had
serious flaws."
Pan Am's response to this and two
other security bulletins prompted by
the West German arrests was limited
to examining and X-raying selected
passengers' carry-on baggage con
taining electronic devices.
But the subcommittee noted that
"the bomb that destroyed Flight 103
reportedly was carried as checked
baggage and, if it resembled the
PFLP-GC version, was specifically
designed to thwart normal X-ray
inspection."
Another FAA security bulletin,
dated Dec. 7, reported that an
unidentified caller phoning the U.S
Embassy in Helsinki, Finland, had
said there would be a bombing
attempt against a Pan Am airliner
flying from Frankfurt, ' West Ger
many, to the United States.
Flight 103 had originated in Frank
furt, going from there to London,
where it changed planes before
heading to the United States..
Space shuttle lamids with minor damage
From Associated Press reports
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE,
Calif. Discovery returned from its
five-day mission in what appeared to
be the best condition of any space
shuttle, with only minor damage to
its protective tiles, NASA officials
said Sunday.
A preliminary examination indi
cated only 10 thermal protection tiles
will need to be replaced, in contrast
to the last shuttle flight in December
when nearly 200 tiles were severely
damaged. In addition, the tires,
brakes and engines that troubled
some previous missions performed
well.
"We need to go back and look (at
mission records), but I doubt if we
could even find one that looks this
good," said Discovery Flow Director
Tip Talone, who coordinates process
ing of the orbiter for each flight.
A day after landing, Discovery
underwent processing at the National
Aeronautics and Space Administra
tion's facility as 28 mph winds, with
gusts over 43 mph, churned dust
clouds across Rogers Dry Lake,
slightly hampering work on the
shuttle.
Talone, however, expected Discov
ery to leave on time for its ferry flight
to Florida Friday morning.
Technicians counted only 82 "hits"
on Discovery's tiles and only 15 were
bigger than one inch, said Jay
Honeycutt, director of shuttle man
agement and operations at Kennedy
Space Center. The previous shuttle
mission ended with 707 debris hits
on the orbiter.
"This is one of the best yet," said
Cindy Lodge, a director for the
shuttle tile system that shields orbiters
from the fiery re-entry.
"WeVe had no major damages,
there's a few dings . . . around the
nose cap; nothing severe at all."
Five tiles were damaged when wires
connected to a tire pressure monitor
snapped as the right main landing
gear dropped, Lodge said. Only one
of those five tiles will need to be
replaced, she said.
The two 10-inch wires and printed
circuit board from the pressure
monitor were found on the runway.
Talone said the wires, which run
down the landing gear strut, appar
ently got tangled and yanked the
circuit board out when the gear came
down.
Discovery landed at 6:36 a.m.
Saturday on a paved runway rather
than the hard pan of Rogers Dry Lake
for a test of "moderate" pressure on
the brakes.
Discovery's brakes were removed
shortly after landing and sent to the
manufacturer for inspection. Engi
neers said "the brakes looked the best
ever. No signs of any heat; there was
no damage whatsoever," Talone said.
The craft's wheels were sent to
Kennedy Space Center for recycling.
Shuttle brakes were problematic
throughout most of the program until
shuttles were redesigned to steer with
the nose wheel rather than alternate
pressure on the main gear.
"It's obvious we're starting to turn
the corner on the brake problems,"
Talone said. All the tires looked good,
and although one showed wear, it was
not a safety concern.
He added that it looks like Dis
covery's "engines came through in
flying colors again."
Discovery blasted off Monday
from Kennedy Space Center in
Florida and in six hours accomp
lished its major goal, deploying a $100
million Tracking and Data Relay
Satellite.
On Tuesday the crew had to shut
down non-essential lighting and
computers because of erratic flow
from a hydrogen tank feeding a
system supplying electricity to the
shuttle. Officials considered shorten
ing the mission by one day, but by
Wednesday ground controllers had
solved the problem.
Eastern begins advertising
to find replacement pilots
From Associated Press reports
MIAMI Eastern Airlines
went shopping Sunday for the new
pilots it needs to survive a crip
pling strike now in its third week.
"WeVe waited patiently for the
pilots union to come to its senses,"
Eastern spokesman Robin Matell
said as an advertisement was run
in Sunday's Miami Herald appeal
ing for pilots to "be part of the
new Eastern."
The ads will begin running
Tuesday in other major newspap
ers across the country, Matell said.
The ads promise an "outstand
ing opportunity for the very best,"
and try to put the best light on
the strike, telling pilots to "also
understand that this is an unprece
dented opportunity for growth
and success."
Matell said Eastern is not
lowering its requirements for
experience and is offering the same
wages and benefits that pilots have
been getting under Eastern's con
tract with the Airline Pilots
Association.
Officials study, unearthed bones
CAPITOL REEF NATIONAL
PARK, Utah Authorities who
unearthed bones and an apparent
clothing fragment at a site iden
tified by serial killer Ted Bundy
hope to determine this week
whether they belonged to one of
his victims.
It is not yet clear whether the
bones are those of a human being,
Wayne County Sheriff Kerry
Ekker said.
Ekker said the state medical
examiner's office will receive the
bones on Monday or Tuesday and
try to determine whether they were
those of 17-year-old Nancy Wil
cox, who disappeared from her
Salt Lake City neighborhood on
Oct. 2, 1974.
Forensic testing should be fin-
News in Brief
ished by Thursday or Friday, he;
said. .
Workers delay chemical search r'
CHERBOURG, France -High
winds and heavy seas forced 0
workers to suspend their search-.;
Sunday for containers of insecti-'
cide and other chemicals lost in,,-,
the English Channel from an,
Indonesian ship, authorities said.
In London, scientist Paul John-'
ston said a huge area of the!;,
channel would be polluted and fish
wiped out if one of the containers v
holding six tons of Lindane insec-v
ticide leaked into the water. 4 '
Police at St. Peter Port, the ,
chief town of Guernsey in the r
Channel Islands, said the British .
Ministry of Agriculture alerted. -
police in the region to watch out
tor the containers.
They said the containers were,
lost March 13 when the 263-ton .
Perintis, a former landing craft";
built in Australia in 1945, sank in
a storm 35 miles northwest of
Guernsey.
Japanese leader wins third term
TOKYO The governing par
ty's candidate won a third term as
provincial governor by a sharply
reduced margin Sunday in one of
two elections considered a test of
the scandal-embroiled Liberal
Democrats.
In Miyagi prefecture in nor
theast Japan, Socialist Party
candidate Shuntaro Honma easily'
won election as governor Sunday.'
Liberal Democratic candidate;
Kazuo Aichi had withdrawn after
admitting he received more than!
$60,000 from a company accused'
of influence peddling and insider1
trading.
ectioo reveals opposition to Politburo
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From Associated Press reports
MOSCOW President Mikhail
Gorbachev and other members of the
ruling Politburo failed to win
unanimous support as Communist
Party deputies in a new Soviet
legislature, Pravda reported Sunday;
Providing unusual insight into
divisions in the policy-making Cen
tral Committee, the Communist
Party newspaper said of 641 Central
Committee members and alternates
who voted Thursday, 12 were
opposed to Gorbachev.
Yegor Ligachev, reputedly a con
servative force on the Politburo, got
the most "no" votes of any Politburo
member, 78, according to Pravda.
The Communist Party and some
other public organizations are
entitled to directly choose 750 of the
2,250 members of the new Congress
of People's Deputies. The other 1 ,500,
representing territorial districts, will
be chosen March 26 in nationwide
elections.
Some Soviets have objected to the
provision of the reforms championed
by Gorbachev. They give the party
direct representation in the new
assembly, which will choose legisla
tors and elect the Soviet president.
The vote by Central Committee
members and alternates showed there
is considerable opposition not only
to Ligachev but also to Politburo
members closely linked to Gorba
chev. Customarily such votes are
unanimous, but the secret balloting
used to choose deputies may have
encouraged some to frankly express
opposition to senior Kremlin figures.
Hamburger, BDQ, French Fries, and more every night.
(9
Alexander Yakovlev, said to be
Gorbachev's closest adviser, got 59
"no" votes, while the candidacy of
Moscow party boss Lev Zaikov was
rejected by 25 of those voting.
Gorbachev installed Zaikov as party
boss following the November 1987
sacking of Boris Yeltsin.
Twenty-two people also voted
against Vadim Medvedev, a Gorba
chev ally named to the Politburo in
September 1988 to assume the ideol
ogy portfolio stripped from Ligachev.
Politburo member Viktor
Nikonov, who serves as deputy to
Ligachev in the latter's role as chief
of the party's commission on agricul
ture, received 26 "no" votes.
Along with Gorbachev, the Polit
buro members who received the
widest support were Nikolai Slyun
kov, chief of the party's commission
on social and economic policy, with
19 votes opposed, and former KGB
chief Viktor Chebrikov, with 13
opposed. '
Prime Minister Nikolai Ryzhkov,
whose popularity soared among'
Soviets when he was named to head
a special Politburo commission
directing relief efforts for Armenia's )
earthquake, received a broader man-'
date than Gorbachev with only 10'
votes opposed to his candidacy. '
Of the remaining members of the !
12-man Politburo, Ukrainian party!
boss Vladimir Shcherbitsky and)
Russian federation President Vitalyi
Vorotnikov are running unopposed!
in electoral districts. Foreign Minister;
Eduard Shevardnadze's ministerial ;
post bars him from being a candidate. ;
Although Communist Party;
members proposed 31,000 candidates"
to represent the party in the new.
legislature, the Central Committee:
chose to nominate all 100 people;
suggested by the Politburo for the 100;
seats and then elected all those they;
had nominated. ;
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