European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 26, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday. June 26, 19bb the stars and stripes Page 9 j. " a a floating platform with � Winch is the Center of activity during attempts to recover a crashed oi1-58 Kiowa helicopter from the Depths of Bavaria s Lake Straberg army halts attempt to recover sunken copter by Joseph Owen Shaft writer ammekl4nd. West Germany stymied by a 3-Fwit layer of Loose mud on the Bottom of Lake Stamberg the army abandoned on saturday an 11-Day Effort to recover an oh-5s Kiowa helicopter that crashed into the Lake j unc 14. Friday evening divers recovered the body or the Kiowa s Pilot chief War rant officer Robert guar Acra 248 feet below the surface of the bavarian Lake. At that Lime the searchers thought they also had found a Large piece of the air Craft but another descent saturday afternoon yielded nothing said 8lh inf div spokesman maj. Michael Maher. They comp cd their dive and weren t Able to bring anything Back up he said. They re not going to go Back Down the helicopter crashed into the Lake and Sank about 2 . June 14 As guar Acra and fellow Pilot 1st it. Richard Shaw 26. Shoih of cog 4th aviation regl 8th inf div were conducting a training flight from bad Krecu Nach to bad Tail and Back Maher said. Shaw escaped from the crash with minor injuries and was released Friday from the lands Uhl army regional medical Center. Some helicopter parts initially had been found floating in the Lake. However recovery efforts focused on finding and retrieving the aircraft s engine and transmission to Aid investigators from the army aviation safety Center Al fort Rucker ala., in determining the cause of the crash. The presumed wreckage site proved Loo deep for local resources including a German army diving school on the North East Shore of the Lake. So a Navy contractor trucked in 60 tons of winches decompression Chambers and other deep sen Salvage equipment from Scotland to locale and recover the helicopter and the diving school built diving platforms from pontoons to hold it Oil. The contractor. Steadfast of cancer ing had helped locale parts of the exploded challenger space shuttle off the coast of Florida in 1986. The company also has worked to pinpoint wreckage Al sea from several major airline Acci dents including the crash of a South african Jet found 14,600 below the sur face of the Indian Ocean. Contracted divers spent about 30 minutes on the Lake bed on three Sepa rate dives but their efforts were hampered by the Waist deep mud and the darkness. When the divers were work ing on the Lake floor their headlamps could Only illuminate an area about two feet in front of them. Ascending from such Depths even in deep sea gear required about 1 i hours of in Waler decompression followed by three hours of chamber decompression. Maher said the diving equipment would be hauled off the Lake saturday night and dismantled. The search kept about two dozen . Soldiers at the site for about 10 Days and lapped the resources of the German army Navy and air Force local police and fire departments a Munich diving school the red Cross water patrol and Many other volunteers. The Hunt for the helicopter began where a Sailboat Crew had rescued Shaw but shifted when a Lakeside Resi Dent who saw the crash from her House noticed the search party was looking in the wrong place. Then water patrol volunteers found what they thought to be the wreckage using sonar and an underwater camera. Divers found Gurrera s body Iacre eight Days later. Local army pilots pay close Atten Tion to accidents such As the Lake Stamberg crash said two pilots who have served As instructors. But rather than lose enthusiasm for flying the aviators study crash investigation results to avoid problems on their own mis Sions they said. By doing the Job you re accepting the fact that there s 3 certain amount of risk said one of the pilots. Chief War rant officer e. William Frost of cog 4th aviation a Cut. Handguns reportedly used in 70% of firearm suicides san Francisco up hand guns account for nearly 70 percent of firearm suicides in the United Stales rather than the generally accepted figures of 45 percent to 46 percent a study re leased Friday suggests. Or. Garen Wim Mulc of he univer sity of California at Davis said Hij three year study for the july edition of the american journal of Public health showed thai 64 percent of firearm suicides in a statistically representative county involved handguns. Wintertime disputed claims by pro gun groups that handguns were involved in fewer than half the weapon suicides reported in the United states. This is the first time anyone has Ever published information on the details of a consumer product involved in suicides Wintemute an assistant professor of family practice said. Handguns have Long been recognized As contributing disproportionately to firearm homicides be continued and now our data suggests they play a similar role in firearm  Wim mute also found that firearms had surpassed poisons As the method of Choice among women who Lake their own lives that four manufacturers accounted for More than half the handgun suicides and that one particular Brand of .38-caliber pistol was the most Likely to be used in firearm  the researcher attributed his findings to several fac lore handguns Are More immediately available than other firearms. Because they Are most often bought for self Protection Winton Etc said they arc More Apt to be loaded and within easy reach making them Handy for suicidal people acting on Art impulse. Suicidal people prefer the Short bar Rel length. It is difficult to aim a Rifle or Shotgun at oneself and put the trigger Winer we said. And perhaps the researcher s most controversial opinion people who own guns May be More Likely to be self destructive than those who Don  the National Center for health Statis tics reports that firearms accounted for 58 percent of the 39,453 suicides committed in the United Stales in 1984, the most recent year for which data was available. Handguns officially Are thought to account for less than half of firearm suicides. The National safely Council sets the figure Al 4fi percent the National Rifle association estimates handguns comprise 45 percent of the firearm suicides. Wintemute based his findings on a study of 235 firearm suicides in Sacra mento county. Calif., in 1983. 1984 and 1987. Of those suicides he said hand guns were used in 161, or 69 percent. Broken Down into sex and age groups will mule still found handguns were the weapon of Choice at All Ages in both genders Sacramento was chosen not Only for its nearby location but also because it has a Large dumber of guns and the pro portion of handguns to other weapons it very similar to the National proportion Winter Nule said the most frequently used weapon was the .38-caliber revolver according to the study