The Nation - News from Sept. 28, 1989

USAir and federal investigators dismissed a report that the pilots of a jetliner that skidded into the East River last week had been drinking for five hours before getting into the cockpit. Meanwhile, National Transportation Safety Board investigators said a device that holds the rudder steady for the pilot during takeoff was wrongly set in the full left position, which could account for the drift the pilot reported that led him to abort the takeoff. Responding to the drinking report, USAir spokesman David Shipley in Arlington, Va., said the cockpit crew had only about two hours between the time they arrived at LaGuardia Airport and the time they reported to the gate for the flight.