TAPE SAID TO SHOW THAT U.S. JET TRIED TO WARN PERUVIANS OF ERROR

WASHINGTON, April 25 -- The American crew of a surveillance aircraft
overheard the pilot of a small plane carrying a missionary family
communicate with the tower at a Peruvian airport, and tried to warn a
Peruvian Air Force fighter before it attacked, tape recordings of the
incident reveal, according to United States officials who have reviewed them.

But the Peruvian jet almost immediately opened fire, and the pilot of the
small Cessna can then be heard on the tape saying "they are killing us!"
one official said.

The American pilot and co-pilot of the surveillance plane then shouted to a
Peruvian Air Force officer on board, who was acting as their liaison with
the Peruvian fighter, to order a cease-fire. At that point, one member of
the American crew can be heard shouting, "Tell him to terminate, tell him
to terminate!," the official said. The Peruvian officer on board the
American plane then told the Peruvian fighter plane: "No more. No more."

In Washington, senior American officials are still reviewing the video and
audio tapes from the incident over Peru last Friday, in which an American
woman and her baby daughter were killed. The pilot of the missionary plane
was wounded, but he was able to land, and two other passengers also survived.

The Peruvian fighter and the American surveillance plane were part of a
joint operation to stop drug-running flights in the region. United States
drug interdiction flights have been suspended over Peru and Colombia,
according to the State Department.

Since the downing of the aircraft, American officials have said that the
Peruvian jet opened fire on the missionaries' plane without carefully
following established procedures. Now, officials say that the tapes of the
incident, which have not yet been publicly released by the United States
government, show that C.I.A. contract personnel repeatedly raised questions
with the Peruvians about their procedures before the Peruvian pilot opened
fire. They then intervened to try to stop the firing almost as soon as it
began.

Still, officials caution that some of the facts surrounding the incident
still must be clarified, including any attempt to reconcile the tapes with
other reports that the survivors were strafed after they landed. An
investigation of the incident by the government is expected, although it is
still not clear who will lead that inquiry.

But in seeking to piece together the sequence of events that led to the
downing of the plane, American officials reveal that the tapes show that
the Peruvians moved so quickly that the American crew on the surveillance
plane had only a few minutes to intervene. The tapes show that the American
crew repeatedly asked questions of the Peruvians and expressed strong
reservations about their actions. At one point, they asked the Peruvian
officer on board their plane whether he was certain that the small plane
was a drug trafficking aircraft. The Peruvian responded that he was not
certain.

In recounting the incident, officials say that it began a few minutes
before 10 a.m. on Friday when the American plane, a Citation aircraft,
began its surveillance of an unknown aircraft. The American plane had three
C.I.A.-contract employees on board, including the pilot, co-pilot, and a
systems operator, who tracked radar. In addition, a bilingual Peruvian Air
Force lieutenant colonel was on board, acting as a liaison with the
Peruvian Air Force.

After it began to track the unknown aircraft, the American crew asked the
Peruvian officer to check with Peruvian officials on the ground to see
whether the plane had filed a flight plan. The Peruvian Air Force responded
that no flight plan could be found. But since then the Association of
Baptists for World Evangelism, the missionary group whose plane was
attacked, has posted on its Web site a copy of the flight plan that it said
it had filed.

Shortly after 10 a.m., American officials said, the Peruvian officer aboard
the American plane asked the Peruvian Air Force to launch an A-37
interceptor to investigate. The American crew expressed caution. About
10:13 a.m., the Americans recommended that the Peruvians go through the
standard procedures for identifying the plane, including trying to hail its
pilot, and not to take further action unless the plane began to take
evasive maneuvers. American officials caution that the times of each
statement heard on the tapes remain approximate, and are still reviewing
them to determine a precise chronology.

Officials said that an American crew member could be heard on a tape
saying, "We don't know who this guy is, it could be he is legit."

The officials said that the tapes showed events continued to unfold this way:

A few minutes later, an American crew member states that the Cessna plane
could just be sightseeing, and points out that its altitude and flight
pattern do not match the profile of a narcotics plane.

About that time, the A-37 interceptor arrived in the area, and the American
crew of the surveillance plane recommended that the Peruvian officer on
board their plane tell the fighter to pull forward and identify the unknown
aircraft. At that time, the American crew again asked the Peruvian officer
on their plane whether the Peruvian Air Force had found a flight plan
because "it looks like he is heading toward Iquitos," rather than on a
clandestine drug-running mission.

The Peruvian officer again said that no flight plan had been found.

Around 10:36 a.m., the Peruvian officer on board the surveillance plane
ordered the A-37 to begin the first step in its checklist for the air
interdiction program. Under phase one, an interceptor can visually identify
an aircraft and its registry, try to establish radio contact, and if
necessary proceed to a landing strip where the Peruvian Air Force can
require it to land.

At that point, the Peruvian officer on board the surveillance plane tried
to radio the Cessna on an emergency frequency, but received no response.
The American crew then suggested that he try to hail the plane on an air
traffic control frequency, which he did. Again there was no response. The
American crew then twice recommended that the Peruvian officer use the
Iquitos airport tower's frequency. Officials said it is unclear whether the
Peruvian officer did so.

Around 10:40 a.m., the Peruvian officer on board the surveillance plane
said the first phase was completed, and directed the fighter to begin the
second step in the checklist, which calls for firing warning shots if the
aircraft is ignoring instructions to land. American officials said they
were not certain the Peruvian fighter actually fired warning shots. The
American crew once again said that the plane did not seem to fit the
profile of a drug-running plane.

But almost immediately, the Peruvian officer on board the surveillance
plane called to the ground to ask for authorization to move to the third
and final step to fire on the plane, American officials said.

At that point, the American crew objected to the Peruvian officer, and
called their own supervisors on the ground in Peru. They told their
supervisors they would not recommend going to the third step. They then
asked the Peruvian officer on board their plane whether he was sure that
the plane was a drug-running aircraft. He said no, according to American
officials.

Almost immediately, Peruvian officials on the ground authorized the request
to begin shooting. The Peruvian officer asked for confirmation from the
ground a couple of times, and received it. But the American crew began to
voice more strenuous objections, saying that the plane was not displaying
evasive behavior and was not trying to escape, and recommended again that
the A-37 pull up in front and visually identify the aircraft.

At 10:43 a.m., the A-37 was close enough to report the plane's tail number,
OB1408, to the American surveillance plane. The Citation crew then
suggested that the A-37 make itself visible, pull ahead of the plane and
make a close identification, to resolve further doubts.

Soon after that, the American crew asked the Peruvian officer on board
their plane three more times whether he was sure the plane was a narcotics
flight. This time he said yes. At 10:46 a.m., American crew members said
they thought that might be a mistake.

About the same time, the pilot of the Cessna was establishing communication
with the tower at Iquitos airport, and informed the tower that military
aircraft were in the area and that he was uncertain what they were doing.
The crew of the American surveillance plane then heard the Cessna pilot
talking to the Iquitos tower, and told the Peruvian officer.

At that point, the sequence of events appears tightly compressed, and the
exact chronology is still difficult to piece together. But about 10:48
a.m., the A-37 opened fire, officials said. An American official said that
on the tape, the pilot of the Cessna can be heard saying, "They are killing us!"