2 U.S. PILOTS DIE ON COLOMBIAN ANTI-NARCOTICS MISSION

BOGOTA, Colombia - Two American pilots working for the U.S. government on
an anti-narcotics-related mission died when their airplane went down in a
battle-scarred region of southeastern Colombia, the U.S. Embassy said
Tuesday.

The pilots were identified as Wayne Harley Mulgrew of Napa, Calif., and
Gary Clyde Chestnut of Leesburg, Ala. Both were 46.

The embassy said in a prepared statement Tuesday that the two men were
killed Monday when their Thrush turboprop crop-dusting aircraft went down
near a military base at San Jose del Guaviare, 200 miles southeast of
Bogota.

Colombian and U.S. military sources said the base is in a chief
cocaine-producing region of southeastern Colombia and is usually surrounded
by leftist guerrillas, who frequently try to shoot down government aircraft
on illicit-crop eradication missions.

The embassy termed the deaths an accident, although it said the cause of
the crash was still under investigation. The statement said there were "no
indications of hostile activity during the accident."

The embassy statement added that one of the pilots was training the other
pilot on how to conduct training exercises when their plane went down.

The last death involving a government-contracted anti-narcotics pilot
occurred in January 1997, when Robert Martin, 35, flew his crop-dusting
aircraft into a tree while on an eradication mission only one day after
arriving in the country.

Mr. Mulgrew and Mr. Chestnut were providing training to Colombian
anti-narcotics pilots under a State Department contract with East Inc.,
based in Chantilly, Va. A company spokesman declined to comment and
referred all inquiries to the State Department.

East Inc. and DynCorp Aerospace Technologies, a Fort Worth-based company,
provide more than 100 aircraft pilots and maintenance technicians to work
in dangerous areas of Colombia where, in many cases, U.S. law restricts the
activities of U.S. military personnel.

Their work has become so dangerous in recent months - due mainly to
anti-aircraft fire from guerrillas and other gunmen protecting illicit-crop
fields and drug laboratories - that earlier this year, they began
conducting eradication missions at night to make their aircraft harder to
target, a U.S. official said.

The night missions, however, entail a higher accident risk because of the
need for pilots to fly at low altitudes to ensure their crop dusters hit
their targets with herbicide spray.

In addition, the Colombian National Police, which conducts most
anti-narcotics operations, has been forced to ground the bulk of its
U.S.-supplied helicopter fleet twice in recent months because of mechanical
problems.