European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 06, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes Friday september 6. 1985 columns Carl Rowan . Should Sef Standard Tor the world on air safety i am not arming those air travellers who a Knuckles turn White at the slightest hint of air turbulence. Ind on every take off and Landing. But this worst year fur disasters in the i sins of civil aviation is convincing me thai there ire reasons Why we All should have some fear of flying. 1 Here is i Cru helming evidence that the Safe enforcement procedures of   administration Are pro ssh deficient. Tel Thi t governments in other countries a be even More lax in ensuring  airlines follow Safe proce dures. In this Era of deregulation new airline Sand fare wars. Mime airlines clearly Are stressing economies Over safety. A Federal government already burdened by huge budget deficits is of no mind to hire enough properly qualified air controllers or to place at airports the cosi by new technology thai would give airliners adequate warnings about wind Shear and other a Ards. Let s look at the evidence supporting these charges lax safety precautions after a Japan air lines 747 crashed on aug. 1 2. Killing 5110 people inspections of that company s 41 Boeing jumbos found 35 abnormalities in 23 of the planes. The aug. 12 crash is believed to have occurred alter the rear pressure Bulkhead cracked during flight then Tore out sections of the Tail and the Hydraulic fluid and instrument systems essential to guid ing the plane. The abnormalities in the 23 jumbos included broken bolts attach ing the rear pressure Bulkhead Loos Bulkhead and rudder bolts and worn bearings. On aug. 16, a  Force in inc transportation department criticized the r a s safely procedures on several counts including difficulty in formulating and carrying out actions in a timely  almost simultaneously. Con Gress general accounting office accused the f a of doing a spotty Job of inspect ing aircraft. I just can t understand Why year after ear goes by without the Faa forcing airlines to use firc Rel ardent materials in the interiors of their aircraft. In the Wake of the criticisms by Dot and Gao on aug. 23 the Faa announced that it was investigating maintenance practices at american airlines saying that officials of the nation s Sec Ond largest air Carrier were cooperating fully. Economies of Creed the Reg Ellen Goodman ular first class fare. New York to san Diego is j735 one Way he Standard coach fare j490. Bui along comes people express urging us to Fly  and Lake its plane for Only is 19. Out is flying cheap flying Safe some of the Cut rate airlines have been accused of employing non Union pilots that other airlines would t hire and of using non Union maintenance people. The jury is still out on this Issue of the competence of Cut rate airlines personnel. But when United airlines and Ameri can arc forced to match the people express fare How do they with big Union payrolls Cope economically they can t make ends meet just by taking away what passes for food or by charging for booze. Arc they culling safely Corners one thing we know operators of Cut rate airlines and Tours pack As Many peo ple aboard As they can. British air Tours had changed the scat configuration so As to get More people on the Boeing 737 that exploded during Takeoff on aug. 22, kill ing 54 people. Miraculously 83 people survived that inferno some of them say ing later that hey had difficulty getting out because leg space was so cramped. Japan air lines had reconfigured that Boeing 747 so As to cram More than 500 aboard leading to precisely the to no menial tragedy people feared when the first jumbo jets were put into service. Meanwhile the United states and other countries still face serious problems controlling traffic in crowded air lanes. British air controllers almost let prime minister Margaret Thatcher get killed recently. . Air controllers Are not pre pared to Cope with the 200,000 or so flights that criss Cross the country every Day. Faa administrator Donald  has said that he needs 14,300 com is Patent air controllers to make flying Safe in the United states. As of the end of july he had 13,348, some of whom were management people Faa says that it has no figures on How Many who went into Airport Lowers during the air control lers strike of 1981. Some 3,000 prospective air controller Are now in training but the fact today ii that a lot of controllers Are overworked some Are incompetent and some Are drinking whiskey and using drugs on the Job which is Why near misses at air ports have become to hum incidents. Only governments can take charge and do something about lax inspections greedy Corner cutting and inadequate staffing of safety operations. We Mut demand that our government act. Kiting a safety Standard for the world. C Newt America Syndicate like most kids All she wanted to do was grow up Jan Smith left the Airport where she was waiting fur her husband Arthur and her daughter Samantha and she new c instead to the crash site. The plane her husband s plane her daughter s plane it was just a pile of  the were simple suddenly gone. Later on. Someone would find one thing unscathed on that charred piece of Maine Earth the script of a to show Samantha was going to Star in. The script became the postscript i j life that ended at 13. Public figures and private friends said that Samantha Smith  captured our imagination or our hearts or at least our attention. She did t do it b winning an Gold  she was t precocious. She was t a child Prodigy. Samantha was Jusi a kid who thought like a kid. She woke up one morning in Maine when she was 10 years old and wondered if this was going to be the last Day of the  she read about the arms race and thought it All seemed so dumb to  and then she did something that Only an unsophisticated kid in lil do. In the years before diplomacy Breeds directness out of them before cynicism and a sense of pow Tessness sets in. She wrote a letter to the soviet Leader. I have been worrying about Russia and the Uniec slates getting into a nuclear War she told Yuri andro Pov. Arc you going to Vole to have a War or not if you Aren t please Tell me How you Are going to help toot have a  Andropov wrote Back with an answer and a invitation. Come said Andropov Sec for yourself so she did. In 1983, Samantha Smith went to the soviet Union accompanied by parents and photographers tracked by commentators and columnists. Sony complained that Samantha was a tool of soviet propaganda. Some complained that she was a dupe of the  wondered if we were making too much of a fuss about her. When Samantha came Home she Drolc Aboul her experience i mean if we could be friends by just getting to know each other better then what Are our countries really arguing about nothing could be More important than not having a Wai of .1 War would fill  adults cannot say such things anymore. Adults Musl talk Aboul Salt and Start Irealius Aboul Star wars this and my that about parity and  must be suspicious cautious. There is something sad about the search for a child to Lead us. It is a kind of abdication of Power. Two Yean after her trip to the Sovil Union. Samantha Smith said i feel really weird being asked Aboul peace All the Lime. Adults Afier All arc supposed to figure in out. It is Lousy to write an obituary for a 13-year-old. I cannot imagine a pain Grealer than Hal of losing Achild unless in is also losing the husband who could share Hal pain. The Brief years of Samantha Smit Cylc briny were full of highs talk shows a Book a part in a to serial carrying a script from London Back Tomaine on a foggy Rainy sunday night. Bui today i remember whal she told a reporter in May about her goals. When i am 16 i want to get Mydra Var i1 after Hal who knows like counties other kids who lie in bed sometimes and think about bombs Samantha Smith Jusi wanted to grow up. Hang onto your hats because Here comes something naive Dea is tic and utopian from a certifiable adult kids Are like thai on both sides of the Iron curtain. Co donor Globe want Winslon poll