captains and a major are once again trying to run a charter plane to a World Cup soccer match involving Bermuda.

The venue this time is Jamaica, not Antigua, and Captains Bill Madeiros and Larry Mussenden and Major David Burch, of the Bermuda Regiment, are far more confident that this new mission will succeed.

About 100 soccer fans have already pledged $555 for the round trip, leaving only another 30 or so more bookings needed before the venture, scheduled for early November, will definitely go ahead.

"Everything's looking pretty good at the moment,'' said Mr. Madeiros. "We learned a lot from the Antigua affair and are putting the lessons into practice this time around.'' Lesson one was leave more time and, number two, don't hire too big a plane.

For Antigua, which turned out to be an 11th-hour, hurried affair, they initially made arrangements to hire a 300-seater but then realised they had been far too optimistic.

"We quickly realised that was an unrealistic figure and arranged to hire a smaller plane,'' said Mr. Madeiros.

"About a hundred people put their money down but we needed at least 130 to make the trip worthwhile from an economical point of view.'' "We called the trip off and repaid everybody their money in full within 24 hours. None of our customers lost a cent.'' In fact, the only financial losers were Messrs. Madeiros, Burch and Mussenden, although they say their loss on the project was negligible.

For the trip to Jamaica, they have set their sights more modestly on a 173-seat capacity Boeing 727. Once again, if demand is not met, customers will get all their money back within 24 hours of cancellation.

"We again need to get over the 130 mark before we can safely get this off the ground,'' he said. "But there's plenty of time left and we're confident we can do it.

"The truth is that money is not our greatest motivation in this project. We just feel it would be great to have a plane load of Bermudians in Jamaica to cheer on the team.

"So long as we don't get in financial rack and ruin, it's worth doing it just for that.

"We're just a bunch of guys who have got together to do something positive for the community.'' Mr. Madeiros is business development manager with Colonial Insurance, Mr.

Burch is assistant manager of underwriting with GTE Re and Mr. Mussenden is ADC to the Governor.

They operate an unincorporated company called Creative Associates, through which the charter is being arranged.

Tickets for the Jamaica trip can be obtained from any of the three men. A direct flight to Kingston leaves Bermuda on November 7 and returns on November 11. Flying time is just under three hours.

The price of the trip is $555 if booked before October 5 but goes up to $655 after that date.

The cost includes a ticket to the game but does not include accommodation, which is being handled by Darrell Travel.

Creative Associates has been given a block booking of seats in a prime position for the match, said Mr. Madeiros.

If the venture is successful, more air charters to top sporting events could be in the offing.

"Wouldn't it be great to charter a flight to watch the Super Bowl or Wimbledon or a Test Match in the Caribbean?'' asked Mr. Madeiros.