CLIPPING THEIR WINGS

The Federal Aviation Administration has forbidden airline companies from nine countries to fly into or out of the U.S., because the FAA says they do not maintain internationally recognized aviation safety standards. The neglectful nine: Belize, the Dominican Republic, Gambia, Ghana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Uruguay and Zaire. In addition, airlines from Bolivia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Netherlands Antilles are on the FAA's watch list. The crackdown on foreign air carriers is a result of the 1990 crash in New York of a Columbian Avianca airliner that had run out of fuel.