ON A WING AND A PRAYER

By MARK THOMPSON

Until last week, what is known in military parlance as "the necklace" was mostly invisible to American civilians. The fleet of 150 warplanes, flying from 10 bases ringing the U.S., costs taxpayers about $1 million a day defending the nation's air sovereignty. In 1993 Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell recommended that the fleet be scrapped, saying, "We have a large number of planes that are still waiting for Soviet bombers to come over the North Pole." Last week there were fresh reasons for grounding the relic--two episodes in which it seemed as if U.S. warplanes were at war with American airliners.

In the skies off the New Jersey and Maryland coasts, F-16 jet fighters came so close to passenger-carrying planes that the Air Force grounded all such flights along the East coast until procedures are checked to ensure public safety. Both incidents involved the Air National Guard's part-time military pilots whose missions include coastal defense.

On Wednesday afternoon, about 70 miles east of Atlantic City, a pair of F-16s buzzed a Nations Air 727 at 28,000 ft. as it flew from Puerto Rico to New York City's J.F.K. airport. Although the airliner's pilot did not see either F-16 (he learned of their stealthy approach via the blaring alarm of his onboard collision-avoidance system), one of the jets (flown by a male pilot) apparently hugged the airliner's tail for two minutes, while his female partner loitered farther away. Among the 84 people onboard, two flight attendants and a passenger were slightly hurt when they were thrown to the floor during the 727's evasive maneuvers, in which the pilot made sharp, 4,000-ft. changes in altitude. According to a Pentagon official who has reviewed the radar tracks, the 727's moves seemed to be mimicked by the F-16 following closely behind. While the commercial pilot said the F-16 came within 400 ft., Guard officials said the jet stayed at least 1,000 ft. away as it made a visual identification of the plane.

New Jersey National Guard Colonel Thomas Griffin said that the airliner was never in danger and his pilots were only trying to identify a plane that should not have been in that sector of airspace, which is often restricted to military planes simulating combat. Transcripts obtained by TIME show that FAA controllers were upset at the cat-and-mouse game they felt the F-16 was playing. "You're supposed to keep your guy away from my guy," a New York controller griped to a Navy controller in Virginia, "and it's not looking like it's working that way."

On Friday, about 15 miles off the Maryland coast, an American Eagle turboprop pilot flying at 19,000 ft. was surprised to find himself sandwiched by four F-16s--three above him and one below--after he was told all four would be passing above him. With one F-16 running low on fuel, the four jets screamed by within 1,500 ft. of the turboprop, which was bound for J.F.K. from Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina

Both Pentagon and FAA officials expressed concern that some hotdogging may have occurred in the first flyby. Confirmation will have to await completion of a probe by the National Transportation Safety Board. Major General Donald Sheppard, head of the Air National Guard, attempted to put events in a positive light by noting with satisfaction that his pilots--and airline passengers as well--are learning about the sensitivity of the crash-avoidance gear installed on airliners in recent years. Such onboard units "are alerting us to things that happened all the time that we never knew before," he said. "This is good news for us, I believe."