Crisis-management experts gave US Airways and a commuter affiliate high marks Wednesday for their initial response to the crash that killed 21 people.

"They've done a good job of releasing the basic information," said Bruce Blythe, chief executive of Atlanta-based Crisis Management International. "The CEO has spoken. He's had a visible presence, which is a good thing. So far, so good."

Companies that mismanage disasters often risk multiplying the damage they suffer, but today's weak economy and public mistrust of executives heighten the need for effective, compassionate response.

Experts agreed that having the top executive respond immediately in a crisis is crucial. That happened Wednesday at US Airways and Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group, the owner of Air Midwest, which operates as US Airways Express and was flying the plane that crashed.

"We want to be as open and get as much information out as possible, but in a manner that is respectful to the families," said Mesa Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Ornstein. "I think the point is that while we are all trying to grasp the situation, we are cognizant of the fact that we need to be as responsive as possible."

At US Airways, CEO David Siegel expressed sympathy for the families of passengers and crew and committed "to do everything possible to help them in the aftermath of this tragic event."

Reaching out to families and co-workers of victims is an important initial response.

"Make sure they are sensitively attended to, that the news is broken to them in a sympathetic manner - that they don't hear it on the news or through some other third party," said Steven Fink of Lexicon Communications, a Los Angeles crisis-management firm, who has helped manage the aftermath of crashes.

For years, the classic example of good crisis management has been Johnson & Johnson's handling of its 1982 nightmare when cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules killed seven people. The company's action, including a quick recall, allowed it to regain a leading market share after a falloff.

Today, crisis-management experts cite a more recent hero, Rudolph Giuliani, for his handling of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York while he was mayor.

Getting the top person out in front helps reduce speculation.

For airlines, that often includes speculation about shoddy maintenance.

"People are going to be looking at, did they cut in places they shouldn't have cut that may have caused that?" said Blythe, whose firm counselors are working with a company that lost employees in the crash.

Getting accurate facts out quickly is key to good crisis management. Winthrop University's sports information director, Jack Frost, learned that in 1993. He'd been working on a formal crisis-management plan when a van carrying the university's men's tennis team flipped at 2 a.m., killing one and injuring seven.

Frost helped implement the budding plan, which includes identifying measures to make another tragedy less likely. After the accident, Winthrop instituted a travel policy that specifies how long and late a group can travel.

As regulatory and media investigations proceed on this crash, experts advised the airlines to be cooperative.

Bernstein said: "If they handle people's feeling well …and give the impression they're doing everything humanly possible to get to the bottom of it, people won't remember this very long."