AIR FORCE SUSPENDS EAST COAST FLIGHTS : ACTION TAKEN AFTER 2ND JET INCIDENT.

Byline: Matthew L. Wald The New York Times

The Air Force suspended all its flights, including those of the Air National Guard, Friday night in the areas off the East Coast reserved for military use until its pilots can review the rules on how close military planes may approach civilian airliners.

The actions were taken after two close encounters this week between National Guard interceptors and commercial passenger planes. One was Wednesday afternoon, when a Boeing 727 was forced to take evasive actions, and the second was Friday afternoon off the coast of Maryland.

The Federal Aviation Administration also ordered its controllers in New York, Washington and Jacksonville, Fla., to review those same rules.

Friday afternoon, the pilot of an American Eagle commuter plane bound for Kennedy International Airport from Raleigh, N.C., reported that four Air National Guard F-16s based at Andrews Air Force Base, near Washington, passed above and below his plane as it was heading north just off the Maryland coast.

But the National Guard insisted that there was no cause for concern because the fighter jets were far enough away, and the American Eagle plane did not alter its flight path.

But it was clear that the pilot of the commuter plane was aware of the incident Wednesday in which two F-16 fighters from a New Jersey National Guard unit based near Atlantic City closed in on a Boeing 727 passenger jet also bound for Kennedy Airport. The passenger plane was forced to take emergency evasive actions.

The New Jersey Air National Guard grounded the two fighter pilots involved in the encounter Wednesday, pending an investigation, and instituted new rules to keep its planes away from civilian airliners.

The National Transportation Safety Board, an independent federal agency, also announced that it was taking jurisdiction over the investigation. The safety board will try to resolve the conflicting claims of the Navy traffic controllers and the Air Force.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., called on new Defense Secretary William Cohen to conduct his own inquiry. ``That's an outrageous mishap,'' the senator said in a telephone interview. ``That kind of a discrepancy should never be able to happen.''

The event that touched off the activity began at 1:36 p.m. Wednesday, when the crew of a Nations Air 727 heading to Kennedy International Airport from San Juan, Puerto Rico, took emergency evasive maneuvers, following commands from an on-board anti-collision system.

Three people in the cabin were thrown to the floor as the aircraft first made a rapid descent, then rapidly climbed. The 727 was flying its authorized route and altitude at the time, according to civilian and military controllers.