CRASH FALLOUT

By GEORGE J. CHURCH

One advance briefing on the Air Force probe into the crash that killed Commerce Secretary Ron Brown was enough for Major General Charles Heflebower. Even before the 6,000-page report was flown to the U.S. last Friday for weekend reading at the Pentagon, Heflebower, who heads the 17th Air Force in Europe, relieved of their commands the three top officers who had jurisdiction over the fatal April 3 flight. They are Brigadier General William Stevens, chief of the 86th Airlift Wing in Ramstein, Germany, and his two top subordinates, Colonels Roger Hansen and John Mazurowski. "There will be other officers disciplined, both higher and lower," vows a general. Senior Air Force officials say some officers may even face criminal charges for dereliction of duty.

Though the investigative report will not be made public until the end of this week, officers who know its contents say it paints a frightening picture of lapses in safety procedures, inadequate training and antiquated equipment. The pilot and co-pilot who tried to fly Brown and 34 other VIPs into Dubrovnik, Croatia, on a stormy day had never landed there and were using primitive cockpit navigation equipment of a type that commercial airlines had long since replaced.

They should never have taken off in the first place. Air Force regulations permit military planes carrying VIPs into East European airports like Dubrovnik's to land only by daylight and in clear weather. The Air Force's European Command had applied for a waiver of these regulations. Safety officers at the Pentagon denied the request, but the 86th Airlift Wing apparently disregarded the denial. On high-profile vip flights, comments an Air Force officer, "the pressure to accomplish the mission on time is unspoken but great." Last week's firings should set up a much needed counterpressure.

--By George J. Church. Reported by Douglas Waller/Washington

With reporting by DOUGLAS WALLER/WASHINGTON