Crew Likely Unaware of New Altitude Rule

Six members of Marine Capt. Richard Ashby’s squadron--scheduled to testify at Camp Lejeune, N.C., next week as defense witnesses in his court-martial--were called out of turn because the squadron was ordered to Europe for duty over Kosovo, a province of Serbia, Yugoslavia. Capt. Michael Recce, a pilot, said he watched Ashby’s crew discuss a 1,000-foot altitude restriction for the low-level training flight on Feb. 3, 1998, the day Ashby’s jet cut an Italian ski gondola cable, killing 20 people. Recce said none of the squadron members knew the altitude restriction had been raised to 2,000 feet in October 1997.