Military Training

Air Force officials are considering taking action against a pilot blamed in an Oct. 22 collision in which the wing of his plane knocked the two-man crew of another jet out of the cockpit in midair. The investigative report on the incident, released last week, describes in dramatic detail the deaths of a U.S. Air Force flight instructor, Lt. Col. William R. Nusz of Rosamond, and a visiting British Royal Air Force flier, Flight Lt. Leigh Alexander Fox.

Air Force officials are considering whether to take action against a pilot blamed for an Oct. 22 collision in which the wing of his plane punched the two-man crew of another jet out of their cockpit seats thousands of feet above the desert, without parachutes, killing them. An investigative report released last week on the Internet graphically describes the deaths of a U.S. Air Force flight instructor, Lt. Col. William R. Nusz of Rosamond, and a visiting British Royal Air Force flier, Flight Lt.

On the floor of the snow-covered Val di Fiemme, cordoned off by orange tape, lies the wreckage of a yellow ski-lift gondola. The blue sky is silent, free of the warplanes that roared back for decades at complaining inhabitants of the Alps. Unmoved from the spot where it crashed and killed 20 people, the gondola is a grim monument to a global hazard: low-altitude training by military pilots. The silence represents a costly victory by the ground forces of civilian opposition to the practice.

A week after admitting that the United States and the rest of the world responded too slowly to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, President Clinton on Wednesday urged more African nations to undergo training by the U.S. military to enhance their peacekeeping skills. "Amid chaos and ruin, these soldiers and others like them can bring security, hope and a future," Clinton said to an audience that included scores of U.S.-trained Senegalese troops.

In what could become one of the most dramatic episodes in military legal history, a Marine Corps judge has recommended that a pilot and his navigator be court-martialed in the deaths of 20 people killed when their jet struck the lines of an Italian gondola and sent a crowded cable car plunging to the ground last winter, sources said Wednesday.

A sailor training to become a Navy SEAL commando died a day after choking and losing consciousness during a survival swim in a pool, Navy officials said Friday. Gordon Racine Jr., 25, of Houston died Thursday night at Sharp Coronado Hospital after more than a day on life support, Navy Lt. Dee Dee Van Wormer said. The cause of death was not known. An autopsy was scheduled for Monday at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego.

Smarting over its defeat by American military invaders in the 19th century, Mexico for years kept its relations with the U.S. armed forces to a bare, polite minimum. But the war on drugs has changed all that. Mexico is now one of the main recipients of U.S. military assistance in Latin America, a coalition of nongovernmental organizations reported Tuesday. In 1997, Mexico received more U.S.

The Marine Corps announced Friday that not only will two aviators be court-martialed for the accident that killed 20 people in an Italian cable car tragedy, but dereliction-of-duty charges also may be lodged against four senior officers. The ruling by Lt. Gen. Peter Pace, commander of the Marine Corps forces in the Atlantic region, sets in motion what is shaping up to be an unparalleled episode in U.S. military justice.

The Marine Corps announced Friday that not only will two aviators be court-martialed for the accident that killed 20 people in an Italian cable car tragedy, but dereliction-of-duty charges also may be lodged against four senior officers. The ruling by Lt. Gen. Peter Pace, commander of the Marine Corps forces in the Atlantic region, sets in motion what is shaping up to be an unparalleled episode in U.S. military justice.

Residents in areas surrounding the Tustin and El Toro Marine Corps air stations may hear additional noise from jet aircraft next week. Flight hours are being extended to 11 p.m. for additional pilot training, military officials said. Training at El Toro will take place Monday through Thursday; in Tustin from Tuesday through Thursday. Information: (714) 726-2937.