European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 15, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 2 stars and stripes saturday March 15, 1986 Blackhawk grounding to affect training by Mike  writer Heidelberg grounding of Usa eur s 131 Blackhawk helicopters will Impact most on aviator and combined arms training a command spokesman said Fri Day. It. Col. Kenneth r. Stein who handles Fielding of the army s newest transport helicopter in Europe said the aircraft were grounded at 11 . Wednesday. The Deci Sion to ground All of the army s uh-60s and ah-64 Apache attack helicopters was made following incidents involving the two helicopter models. A Blackhawk crashed at fort Rucker ala., tuesday killing three soldiers. An army test Pilot landed his Apache without incident the same Day when he experienced flight control problems after Takeoff. Blackhawk in Germany the Only country in Europe in which the army has them based Are responsible for medi Cal evacuation and tactical transport of soldiers and equip ment Stein said. The aircraft Are scattered throughout Germany from Bremerhaven in the North and South to Schwabish Hall. While the Blackhawk Are grounded the 421st medical co will use its 18 uh-1v Huey helicopters for medical evacuation missions Stein said. The 421st has its head quarters in Nellinger but helicopter platoons and detachments of the company Are spread throughout Ger Many. If More Huey Are needed to support medical evacuations we can divert aircraft from other units Stein said. Every helicopter Pilot can Fly a Huey but not every Pilot can Fly a  even though the Blackhawk Are grounded the air Craft will be kept in flyable status Stein said. Readiness will not be affected by the grounding directive unless investigation of the Blackhawk crash at fort Rucker deter mines some part has to be replaced he said. Training missions for pilots and units Are grounded with the Blackhawk but How much Impact that will have depends on How Long the ban on flying lasts Stein said. Gen. Glenn k. Otis Usa eur commander in chief can order Blackhawk to Fly missions in some instances despite the flight safety order grounding them Stein said. These include combat matters of life and death civil disasters or emergencies Otis believes override the unknown consequences of flying the Blackhawk. The army grounded its entire Fleet of Blackhawk in april 1985 after two fatal crashes in the states. Investigation of one of those crashes revealed a failure of a main Rotor Blade spindle which prompted repairs to every air Craft in the Fleet. The Blackhawk is made by Sikorsky aircraft a division of United technologies corp. Each aircraft costs about $4.9 million and the army wants to Field More than 1,100 of them. 3 hostages held in Lebanon ask France of shop backing Iraq in War with iran Paris a three French hostages held by islamic extremists called on France in a videotape released 48 hours before crucial French legislative elections to Stop supporting Iraq in the iran Iraq War. Two French state television networks showed extracts on midday news programs Friday of an islamic jihad videotape of the French hostages held in Lebanon since last year. The networks did not broadcast the Mes sages read by the three men diplomats Marcel Fontaine and Marcel Carton and journalist Jean Paul Kauffmann so As not to enter into the game of the kidnappers by serving As a Loudspeaker for their propaganda the tf1 network said. But the three hostages statements published Friday afternoon by the Paris daily be Monde expressed the unanimous belief that their Only Hope for release was a change in France s Middle East policies specifically its military and economic sup port for Iraq. France is a major arms sup plier to the iraqi government. All three men appeared anxious and All three read from statements. Be Monde commented that the statements appeared virtually identical in their Calls for a change in French Middle East policy and had very probably been dictated by their  it also said the timing of the release of the tape just before the elections appeared to be an Effort to exploit the anguish of the hostages and apply the maximum pressure on the govern ment and Public  the tape which was Given to the visness television Agency in Beirut Lebanon ran 6 minutes 30 seconds. A fourth French hos Tage researcher Michel Seurat who islamic jihad claims has been executed was not shown. A statement in arabic delivered to vis news in Beirut with videotape also said the move was the last Chance for the French government to answer the conditions imposed by the kidnappers. In addition to a halt of its support for Iraq those conditions Are believed to in clude the release of five convicted Middle East terrorists four serving life sentences and one a 20-year sentence for the at tempted assassination of former iranian prime minister Shahpour Bakhtiar in july 1980. The statement concluded the kidnappers have not met and will not meet with any official or unofficial envoy unless there is a significant move toward acceptance of their demands. On tuesday lebanese born French or. Rajah Raad arrived in Beirut on an unofficial Mission to try to free the hostages which now include a four member French television Crew abducted last week. Islamic jihad claims it had nothing to do with that abduction. The tape apparently was recorded some time after monday because in his statement Carton expressed the regret that he had been unable to wish his wife a Happy birthday on that Date. 9 congressmen arrive in Nicaragua for fact finding tour prior to Aid vote Managua Nicaragua up nine Republican congressmen arrived Friday to meet nicaraguan officials and opposition leaders less than a week before the . House of representatives votes on a $100 million Aid package for Contra rebels. Re lated stories photos Page 5. The nine member House delegation which the White House said wanted to get a first hand assessment of the situation in Central America before the vote arrived on a . Air Force Jet at Managua s Augusto Sandino Airport on a direct flight from Washington. The congressmen were scheduled to meet nicaraguan vice president Sergio Ramirez and foreign ministry officials. . Embassy officials said they also scheduled meetings Between the congressmen and leaders of opposition political parties. The first Stop on their fact finding tour was the office of Nicaragua s Only opposition newspaper la Prensa whose editors discussed censorship imposed on their publication. The visit comes less than a week before legislators will vote on a White House proposal to give the contras $100 million in military and economic Aid. The House is scheduled to vote thursday on the proposed package which Nicaragua s leftist Sandi nista government has labelled immoral and  in Washington Friday president Reagan declared himself a Contra As he urged support for his request which includes $70 million in military Aid and $30 million in non lethal assistance for the nicaraguan rebels. Before their departure from Washington the congressmen also expressed interest in meeting with roman Catholic Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo an outspoken critic of the government. The Church Hierarchy is at Odds with Nicaragua s leftist government which it accuses of religious  tensions worsened last week when foreign minister Miguel d Escoto also a Catholic priest accused Obando y Bravo of betraying the nicaraguan people by not failing to Force fully condemn the contras. The group will not meet nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega who left Managua thursday to attend the funeral of assassinated swedish prime minister Olof palme in Stockholm Sweden saturday. Nicaragua censors All publications be cause of the continuing War with . Backed guerrillas. The nine House republicans also will visit other Central american nations. Manes kills self new York a Donald Manes who survived a suicide at tempt then resigned As Borough president of Queens when he was linked to the City s largest corruption scan dal in 15 years ended his life with a knife wound to the heart. Manes 52, died a Little More than an hour after an ambulance was called to his Home where he was found lying on the Kitchen floor with a Stab wound to the Chest said police commissioner Benjamin Ward. He had been the highest elected official of the Borough of Queens whose population of nearly 2 million is larger than All but three . Cit ies. Hudson counter suit los Angeles a Rock Hudson s estate has filed a $2.07 million counter suit against the late actor s Lover contending the Man blackmailed Hudson had sex for Money while Hudson was away and stole $60,000 Worth of the actor s possessions according to court re cords. The lawsuit filed by Wallace Sheft the estate s executor names Marc Christian who filed a $14 Mil lion lawsuit after Hudson s death contending the actor might have Given him acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Chemical leak sealed Institute . A a Small amount of a foul smelling chemical leaked from Union Carbide corp s Institute Plant but there was no danger and the leak was quickly sealed officials said. Plant workers were cleaning a Transfer line when they found about one Pound of Fulfur dichloride said spokeswoman Cathy Jones. The chemical dispersed without injuring the workers she said. Institute Plant manager Rudy Shomo said a problem in turning off an alarm led to More emergency workers being dispatched than was necessary. He said the leak was minor and no one was threatened. Cosmonauts preparing for linkup with space station Moscow a the soyuz t-15 spacecraft carrying two Veteran cosmonauts to a saturday Docking with the soviet Union s newest space station is functioning smoothly soviet news Media reported Friday. Radio Moscow in a Brief report during its hourly English language broadcast said cosmonauts Leonid Kizim and Vladimir Soloveva Are feeling Fine and performing preparation tasks for the linkup. The time of saturday s rendezvous had not yet been disclosed. Kizim and Soloveva blasted off thursday from the Baik Anur cosm drome in soviet Central Asia. The liftoff was broadcast on National television a departure from the secrecy usually surrounding manned soviet space missions. It was the first spaceship to be launched since the . Space shuttle challenger exploded on liftoff Jan. 28, killing All seven astronauts aboard. The official news Agency Tass said the t 15 spacecraft had made 14 revolutions around the Earth by noon Friday. The cosmonauts have carried out Stan Dard operations to Check the air tightness of the ship compartments and inboard sys tems and corrected the orbit Tass said. Kizim and Soloveva will become the first Crew aboard the space station Mir which Means peace in russian. It was sent into orbit feb. 20. Radio Moscow said the t-15 spacecraft will Dock at one of two ports on either end of the station. The Complex also has four additional ports to accommodate Large space modules that can be equipped to function As laboratories or production shops. Kizim 44, and Soloveva 39, Are Veteran cosmonauts who set a space endurance re Cord of 237 Days in orbit aboard the salyut 7 space station in 1984