European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 18, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Wednesday May 13, 1988 the stars and stripes Page 9 Pilot bonuses expected to be of d Bureau Washington despite some misgiving he House and Senate armed semen committees appear poised 10gram the Pentagon increased authority to expand bonuses for military committees in the reports on their respective versions of the fiscal1989 defense author Ilion Bill included language on the bonuses. But difference sin some aspects of the two Plain mean the Issue will have to be resolved in con Ference. All aviation officers Are eligible to receive Avillion career incentive pay known As flight pay of is 25 to �400 per month depending on length of service. But Only die Navy is authorized to give bonuses called aviation officer continuation pay to pilots in specialities with critical shortages. The Navy pay those bonuses at the rate of up to $6,000 per year to pilots who agree to extend their initial Active duty commitment for four years or More and up to 14,000 Foran additional three year commitment. In its fiscal 1989 budget request Heair Force requested permission to give the same kind of bonuses at increase Levels to All its aviators. Concerned about the projected dra Matic increase in airline hiring in the next decade the two congressional committees have agreed with some modifications. Tie House armed services commit tee approved bonuses of up to 111,000per year for aviators in a services in specialities with critical shortages who agree to slay on Active duty at least 14 years. For Shorter commitments in maximum Bonus would be 16,000 per Senate armed services commit tee plan is slightly different authorizing bonuses of up to 112,000 per year for each year thai pilots agree to extend beyond initial commit Niels up to a maximum of eight both committees turned Dawn the air Force request to give the Bonus to pilots in All specialities. The House kept the current provision that pays the Bonus to aviators in specialities with critical shortages. The sen ate committee look a softer stance directing thai the Bonus be Given to pilots in specialities designated As retention sensitive which presumably would make More pilots eligible than under the critical shortage limitation. Because the air Force proposal to cover All aviators was scaled Back the House committee Cut thai service s fund ing request for the bonuses from s54 Mil lion to 136.1 million for fiscal 1989. The Senate committee Cut it to 130 million. The House already has passed in ver Sion of the defense authorization Hill. The Senate is debating its version this week. Once the Senate finishes staffers with the two armed services Commilla Caswill meet to Compromise on differences in the aviation Bonus plan and other pro visions in the two Bills. Pilot wins safety award for handling of stalled f-16 by William a Hartman Washington Bureau Washington an f-16 Pilot from rant Zinab West Germany who successfully landed his aircraft after his engine foiled above the Mediterranean has received one of the air Force s lop safely awards. I m just an overage Guy in the Squadron,1 said Cape j. Collins of the s26th Tae fighter so after receiving the Karen Kolligan or. Trophy on Mon Day. Any other Guy at ram item or any other squad Ron could do the same thing if Given the but the difference Between Collins and any other Squadron Pilot said air Force chief of staff Gen. Larry Welch who presented the award is that they thin they can do it while the award recipient now knows tie can do on May 26,1987, Collins was participating in Aerial hero Square up photo Boston mayor Raymond Flynn Ltd unveils a sign marking the George of Hera Suwe it the Corner of Beach and Hudson streets in the City s Chinatown. Born in Charlestown mass., of died during the Buttle a the Kenien Bridge in cer Nuny in 1945, after volunteering As 9 Point Man. Helping Flynn with the sunday unveiling we of s sister in Law Beliy of and of i brother Henry right along Wallfi a local american legion official. Combat training exercises at Decimo Mannu a Sardi Nia while travelling at 701 Mph in full afterburner Al 6,000 feet above the water Collins noticed his Oil pres sure was at Wro. He was 50 Miles from the nearest recovery Field. Collins faced a major life and death decision affect ing himself and possibly others Welch said. He could eject from the Craft and let it crash uncontrolled. Or he could try to Pilot it to a Safe Landing at the nearest recovery Field. Deciding to slay with inc aircraft Collins kept thinking in Advance of every possible problem that could occur Welch said. And each of them did occur. After immediately confirming the Oil pressure prob Lem Collins began a zoom climb toward the nearest Airfield while declaring on in flight emergency Collins nursed the f-16 to within gliding distance of the Field and then reduced Power for descent. Less than three minutes later and less than six minutes after the initial indication of Oil toss the aircraft began in vibrate smoke entered the cockpit and the engine failed seconds later almost i5 Miles from inc Field. After unsuccessful attempts to restart the engine Collins flew the f-16 to a position 8.900 feet above the Field to initiate a to dog acc turn Loward the the aircraft s mechanical problems prevented him from lowering the Landing gear forcing him to Sean emergency gear Extension. But his troubles were not yet Over. Reaching the ground 2,000 feet from the approach end of a 9.suo foot runway he found the brakes As Well As nose wheel steering also Wei unavailable. He managed nonetheless to maintain directional control using rudders Andall other operable equipment at his disposal to bring the aircraft to a Safe time to Lime we forget How risky flying com hat aircraft is Welch said. Pentagon expected to Shelve plan for private firms to run commissaries by Chuck v1nchwashington Bureau Washington a plan to turn military commis Saries Over to private contractors probably will be shelved following a Senate armed services committee Ole calling for a Hall 10 further efforts on the project. The committee report on its version of inc fiscal1989 defense author Ilion Bill also bars the Penta gon from conducting further tests on the concept. The House counterpart of the Senate committee already approved halting the Effort. Tests of the privatization concept were set to begin at three Sites this summer. But inc report cited results of a previous full store test Al Yuma Ariz in 198frshowing that privately run commissaries were not As Cost effective of stores run by the government. There is no new information to indicate that an other lest would yield different results inc report said. Pentagon officials Are not necessarily unhappy about the congressional action because the Reagan administration rather than the defense department has been pushing commissary privatization As a Cost culling move. The administration View is based mainly on recommendations by the Groce commission which studied ways to Cut Federal spending by identifying govern ment functions thai could be handled by the private sector. Military officials feared the traditional Benefit of providing with savings of about 2i percent compared to commercial supermarkets would be lost take Over. We re concerned thai once we give the commissaries to organizations that Are strictly profit motivated making a profit will become More important than pro Viding the Benefit said an official who asked not to be identified. The services currently contract for some limited commissary functions such As warehousing and Stock ing but officials Are convinced that full store contract ing would t boost efficiency or provide significant savings. The House armed services com Millie in its ver Sion of the fiscal 1989 defense authorization Bill said 1984 hearings showed that private Industry could no operate commissaries profitably and continue to pro vide savings of about 25 percent. The congressional budget office and the Genera accounting office also reported thai the savings projected by the Grace commission were overestimated and aids cases skyrocket in dec nations Brussels Belgium a the number of confirmed cases or aids increased from 4,101 in 1986 to 9,328 last year in inc european economic Community the european commission reported monday. The commission which gave no breakdown by country said it regretted slow action on the pan of the dec in fighting aids and meager funds spent so far for common research and coordination of measures among the in member countries. It said Only st.7 million was allocated last year on research in Europe and fighting the disease in Africa and these funds Are being used. The commission report said 123 million had been earmarked for research in the two continents but most of those funds were Only tentatively allocated and not yet used As part of a five year medical research pro Gram just recently decided. Dec health ministers will review the Issue Al their next Brussels meeting on May it. Aids acquired immune deficiency syndrome is a. Disease in which a virus attacks the body s immune system leaving victims susceptible to a wide variety of infections and cancers. Aids is most often transmitted through sexual con products. Aids can also be passed from Mother to child Al or before birth
