December 2, 1984

An unmanned jetliner powered by a fuel mixture designed to avoid a lethal fireball in case of an accident was slammed to the desert floor in a Government-sponsored test crash today, sending a mass of red flame hundreds of feet into the air. The failure of the fuel mix, safety experts said, was a disappointing outcome to the ambitious nine-minute, $11.8 million test, which was part of a long-term effort to find ways of reducing casualties in survivable accidents. But, the experts added, the failure was offset by large amounts of data gained on crash forces, new seats and other interior furnishings that they said could lead to safer cabin structures. The plane, a Boeing 720 carrying 75 dummies strapped in passenger and crew seats, was guided to the designated crash site here by remote control from six miles away.

The state's Commission on Judicial Nomination yesterday gave Governor Cuomo a list of seven candidates for chief judge of New York. The panel also forwarded to him the names of 11 candidates to fill a second imminent vacancy on the Court of Appeals, the state's highest tribunal. The two positions will become vacant Dec. 31, when Chief Judge Lawrence H. Cooke and Associate Judge Hugh R. Jones must step down. Earlier this year, both turned 70, the mandatory retirement age.

Once upon a time, when its fans were young and gay, baseball was considered a sport. In this enlightened and expensive age, in which innocence has given way to reality, baseball is called a business. The people who operate it wonder if it will live happily ever after. Tom Monaghan will live happily ever after. The Detroit Tigers won the World Series one year and four days after he bought them. With Monaghan, baseball remains a sport, a game, far removed from the not-so- good business many of his fellow owners consider it to be ''Business has nothing to do with it,'' Monaghan said of his purchase of the Tigers, on the first anniversary of his acquisition. ''It was something I wanted to do all my life. I don't care what the return is. If I had to sell more pizzas to pay for it, I would.''

A rain-soaked desperation pass - traveling 64 yards in the twilight in the Orange Bowl, with no time remaining on the clock - elevated Doug Flutie from a college football hero to a national celebrity. ''The Pass'' that enabled Boston College to defeat Miami the day after Thanksgiving was the essence of this daring undersized quarterback. It was a play worth more than any words to describe the qualities that have enabled Flutie to win the Heisman Trophy, which was awarded last night by the Downtown Athletic Club. There was little suspense when Flutie was announced as the golden anniversary Heisman winner at 7:55 P.M. at the conclusion of an hour-long program televised nationally by NBC. Minutes later, Flutie received a congratulatory telephone call from President Reagan, whom the quarterback supported for re-election.

Shortly before the Nov. 6 election, American intelligence detected what officials describe as hard evidence that Shiite Moslem terrorists planned to attack yet another American installation in Lebanon. The target this time, officials said, was the American Ambassador's hillside residence in Yarze, a Beirut suburb overlooking the Mediterranean. ''We knew who was planning the attack and generally where in West Beirut they were located,'' said Robert B. Oakley, the director of the State Department's Office of Counterterrorism and Emergency Planning. Little was written about it at the time, but American officials point to the swift response to the threat as an example of what has to be done if the United States is to counter the continuing threat of international terrorism. Armed with advance intelligence, American and Lebanese forces mobilized. Half the American staff was evacuated, the Ambassador was secretly flown out of the country, the perimeter defense at the residence was reinforced and pushed outward, antiaircraft weapons were put on the grounds and the air lanes above the residence were closed to all traffic.