N.Y. security violations include confused pilot near Statue of Liberty

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NEW YORK — Despite the nationwide terrorism alert, the pilot of a small plane breached restricted airspace and circled the Statue of Liberty, and a man stole a bus and drove it to Kennedy Airport.

A single-engine plane flew through LaGuardia Airport airspace Sunday without permission, the Federal Aviation Administration said. Air traffic controllers tried to contact the pilot, who flew down the East River toward the Statue of Liberty, FAA spokesman Jim Peters said. A city police helicopter carrying officers with machine guns intercepted the plane and escorted it to an airport on Long Island.

The plane's pilot, Richard Langone, 47, said he became confused flying a new route and entered the restricted airspace by mistake. "I was scared to death," he told the New York Post.

Also Sunday, a Brooklyn man stole a bus from Manhattan's Port Authority Bus Terminal and drove to Kennedy Airport. David Slade, 42, was charged yesterday with criminal possession of stolen property, unauthorized vehicle use and driving while intoxicated.

Final Trade Center call transcripts released

NEW YORK — Minutes after hijackers slammed planes into the World Trade Center, police alerted airport control towers that they considered it "a criminal act," prompting flight restrictions.

The Port Authority yesterday released the final set of transcripts from emergency communications during the Sept. 11 attacks. The disclosure came four months after the agency released 2,000 pages of documents detailing what was said in other emergency calls that day.

In the newly disclosed transcripts, a caller from the Port Authority police desk tells Chris McCary, a LaGuardia Airport control-tower employee, that "they are considering it a criminal act."

"We believe that, and we are holding all aircraft on the ground," McCary answers. The exchange came seven minutes after the second plane struck the twin towers.

In an earlier exchange, a LaGuardia dispatcher tells pilots waiting to take off: "Nobody is going to be leaving LaGuardia right now. Everybody stand by."

The Federal Aviation Administration had just banned all takeoffs for flights to or through New York airspace.

Last-minute flood of injury claims arrives

WASHINGTON — More than 4,000 people claiming Sept. 11-related injuries have applied for federal compensation, surprising fund administrators with a deluge of last-minute applications.

As of yesterday, a total of 4,033 claims for injury compensation had been received, roughly 400 of them arriving since a midnight Dec. 22 deadline for mailing them, fund administrators said. Officials had expected about 3,000 claims.

The fund also had received more than 50 additional claims from families of those killed, bringing the total number of claims for the dead to 2,887. The new figure represents 97 percent of the families of those killed, officials said.

Taliban members claim responsibility for bombing

KABUL, Afghanistan — Remnants of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban claimed responsibility yesterday for a suicide bombing in Kabul that killed five security officials and two bombers, and they vowed more attacks.

Sunday's attack was the worst in Kabul since June, when four German peacekeepers were killed and 31 wounded by a suicide car bomb. It coincided with the last stages of an increasingly acrimonious debate to finalize a post-Taliban constitution.

Taliban guerrillas and their allies, believed to include members of al-Qaida, have declared a holy war on foreign forces in Afghanistan and their local partners. They earlier threatened delegates at the constitutional Loya Jirga, or Grand Assembly, with death.

Philippine authorities arrest 2 brothers from U.S.

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine authorities said yesterday they have arrested two American brothers for suspected links to terrorism, as the country remained on alert over the reported presence of foreign Muslim militants in the south.

Michael Ray Stubbs and his brother James, a convert to Islam, have been held at an undisclosed location since being arrested this month in Tanza, 21 miles southwest of Manila, an immigration official said.

Authorities did not disclose charges the men could face or give details about alleged links to terrorism.

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