Across the Nation

Alaska Airlines black box, tail recovered

PORT HUENEME, Calif. - Searchers found the intact tail of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 and recovered the flight data recorder yesterday, two pieces key to determining why the jetliner plummeted into the ocean.

Underwater robots exploring the ocean floor found where the wreckage came to rest after the MD-83 crashed Monday, killing all 88 aboard.

A submersible sent up video images of a piece of the fuselage with four windows, several large pieces up to six feet wide and numerous smaller pieces. The airline's logo - the smiling face of an Alaskan Eskimo - is clearly visible on the tail, said John Hammerschmidt, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board.

Hammerschmidt declined to say whether searchers had found any bodies, some of which are believed trapped under the debris.

Navy crews had earlier salvaged the cockpit voice recorder from about 640 feet of water. The flight data recorder recovered yesterday about 200 feet away would show the positions of the plane's controls and whether a problem with the horizontal stabilizer on the tail was merely a symptom of a larger failure that led to Monday's crash.

"That will tell the tale," said William Waldock, associate director for the Center for Aerospace Safety Education at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

The discovery came as friends and relatives of the crash victims gathered along the beach facing the Santa Barbara Channel for a private memorial.

Pataki concedes to let McCain on ballot

ALBANY, N.Y. - Gov. George Pataki, the top New York backer of Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush, waved the white flag of surrender yesterday in the battle to keep Arizona Sen. John McCain off the state's presidential primary ballot.

"I believe that John McCain should be on the ballot," the governor said in a statement. "This should be a campaign about ideas and issues, not technicalities. I'm confident that George Bush will win that campaign."

Bush praised any move to allow his chief rival to compete on ballots statewide in New York, although it would give McCain another shot at competing head to head with the Texas governor.

"It's the right decision. I welcome it," Bush told reporters after campaigning in Delaware.

McCain, who held a news conference in front of the Russia Embassy to denounce the "Stalinist politics" of the New York Republican Party, joked of Pataki: "I'll never call him comrade again."

The Arizona senator was campaigning in South Carolina, where he's angling to beat Bush in that state's Feb. 19 primary in order to maintain his momentum after his stunning victory over Bush in New Hampshire.

primary Tuesday.

Earlier yesterday, with growing signs that New York's GOP hierarchy appeared ready to buckle, McCain had sent letters to Pataki and state GOP chairman William Powers urging them to "do the right thing for New York Republicans" by putting him on the ballot.

The apparent shift among state GOP leaders came after Bush, stung by McCain's big New Hampshire primary win and unhappy about handing McCain an issue for his "outsider" campaign, signaled New York supporters that their fight to keep McCain off primary ballots in more than one-third of the state's congressional districts had gone far enough.

Karl Rove, one of the Texas governor's top strategists, told state GOP leaders that Bush would prefer his supporters not appeal if McCain wins a federal court challenge, a Bush adviser said.

Bush himself, asked about the situation during a Dover, Del., stop, said, "Put him on the ballot. If the judge decides he should be on the ballot, let him be on the ballot."

More leg room for American flights

American Airlines, keeping one step ahead of Congress, announced it will create more leg room for its passengers by removing two rows of seats in every aircraft in its fleet.

American Chairman Don Carty conceded that the move was prompted by congressional concerns last year over airline passenger complaints, and he promised more changes to come to demonstrate that legislation isn't needed to fix the problem.

Last year American had the second highest number of customer complaints in the nation, according to Department of Transportation figures released this week, a ranking it maintained through December.

The airline made a breakfast presentation of its new seating arrangement for selected members of Congress before announcing it publicly.

American's action will restore passenger legroom space that was available on most airlines before the industry was deregulated more than 20 years ago. Most of American's coach customers will have about the same amount of legroom that only those sitting in the exit rows enjoy.

The leg room under the new setup will still be only half the space provided for first class passengers.

United Airlines last year said it would take similar action, but would increase the leg room only in the first 11 rows of the coach section.

Both airlines said the moves were intended to add more comfort for business travelers, who pay generally higher fares. An American official said that leisure travelers were more interested in cost than comfort.

At a news conference following the seating announcement, Carty sidestepped the question of the impact the new configuration might have on fares. "You are going to pay what the market is,'' he said.

Airline fares have been rising for more than a year and recently a number of major carriers added a $20 surcharge on round-trip tickets to help cover increases in the cost of jet fuel.

American estimates it will remove approximately 7,200 seats on its worldwide fleet of aircraft, which has a total of about 75,000 seats. The cost of the reconfiguration will be $70 million, which is part of a $400 million upgrade in cabin interiors.

Part of the reconfiguration costs is the need to reposition overhead lights and air flow units so they are over the seats.

American has dedicated two special lines at its two maintenance bases in Tulsa, Okla., and Ft. Worth, Texas, to make the changeovers. American estimates it will take between 24 and 48 hours to reconfigure each plane.

Carty said American hopes to have its domestic fleet converted by summer and to start the conversion of aircraft on its international flights in the fall.