Papers forming the International Aviation Safety Association, or IASA, were submitted to the secretary of state in Delaware on Thursday, the 45th birthday of Lyn Romano, whose husband Ray died last Sept. 2 off Nova Scotia.

"I couldn't celebrate my birthday this year," Romano said from her home in Goldens Bridge, N.Y. "There was no reason to celebrate my birth.

"What I could celebrate is the legal birth of this organization. Its establishment gives me hope that not only my husband's death but those of so many others will come to have a purpose."

Romano has pledged to her organization whatever award or settlement is reached in her $175-million lawsuit against Swissair, its maintenance company SR Technics, and the MD-11 jet's manufacturer, Boeing.