European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 1, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 28 the stars and stripes Friday july 1,1988 Al 6 engine would have been replaced by David Tarrant staff writer an f-l6 Jet fighter whose april 18 crash near Hermes Keil West Germany was engine related Likely would have had its engine replaced six weeks later because of potential cracks in High Speed Blades. Safe officials thursday confirmed that 23 single engine f-l6s were refitted with new engines Between May 31 and june 3 to eliminate potential Blade cracks in some general electric f110 engines. Be engines with More than 550 operating hours were replaced said col. Kris Mineau Safe director of Aero space maintenance. The engine on the f-l6 that crashed in the Hermes Keil Elzberg area had logged 555 operating hours according to Safe. The crash which came two weeks after another f-l6 plunged into Forst West Germany prompted Calls from the German government to ground Safe s f-l6s. At Forst the Pilot and a Man on the ground were killed. Wednesday three More f-l6 fighters crashed in two separate incidents prompting the command thursday to halt All routine flying for two Days. None of the planes involved in wednesday s accidents had been refitted with the new engines. The f-l6 from Span Dahlem a which crashed near Karlsruhe was not among the three at that base to receive new engines. The two planes from Hahn a that collided were equipped with Pratt and Whitney fido engines which were not part of the replacement program. According to a be official cracks in the Al 10 engine Blades were first discovered during company tests to determine the engine s estimated life Span. Be spokesman Bill Shumann said the air Force was alerted to the discovery and the service eventually found cracks in two f-l6 engines. One of the engines had cracks in two of the High Speed engine Blades while the other had a single crack he said. Safe officials said they were told about the problem May 20, and maintenance officials subsequently identified f 16s with Al 10 engines that either had or were approaching 550 operating hours. The planes were suspended from flying until retrofits could be made. The suspension was done in the inter est of safety Mineau said. In addition to the 23 engines removed in Europe eight planes had engines re fitted in Japan and Korea. Twenty of the engine Swap outs involved aircraft assigned to the 86th tac fighter Wing at Ramstein a. Three were from the 52nd tac fighter Wing at Span Dahlem. The work was done by air Force technicians assigned to Ramstein and Span Dahlem. The new engines were furnished by the aeronautical systems division at Wright Patterson fab Ohio. The removed engines were shipped in tact to a be factory for extensive tear Down and inspect on. Although final re sults of the inspections Are not yet Avail Able no cracks have been found to Date Safe officials said. A single Swap out costs about $450, Mineau said. The f110 engine costs $3 million. Fifteen Safe f-l6s have been destroyed in accidents since january 1985. Not counting the three crashes wednes Day still under investigation five of the crashes were attributed to engine failure Safe officials said. Mineau said the March 31 Accident in Forst did not involve engine failure and the plane was not equipped with the Al 10 engine. Flights from Page 1 capt. Michael a. Crandall 30. The other Pilot capt. Robert Mccormack 31, was listed in satisfactory condition thursday in the . Air Force regional medical Center in Wiesbaden Richard said. Mccormack sustained Sec Ond degree Burns on the right Side of his neck and a compression fracture of the lower vertebrae. Richard said Crandall began flying the f-l6 in january 1985 and had More than 650 hours of f-l6 flight time. Mccormack started flying the aircraft in March 1986 and had collected More than 400 hours. The collision took place at an Altitude of about 1,500 feet Richard said. The Jet that crashed near Karlsruhe belonged to the 52nd tac fighter Wing at Span Dahlem a West Germany. The Pilot capt. Jack Friedman ejected from his aircraft shortly before it crashed in a Remote wooded area East of Volker Sbach. Friedman 30, has More than 1,000 hours experience in flying the f-l6, a base spokeswoman said thursday. At the Bodenheim crash site thursday afternoon an interim crash investigation team directed army and air Force personnel in surveying and staking out the location of aircraft debris. And a military Crew continued to search for a second hydrazine tank from the Colli Sion site. One tank was recovered. Hydra Zine is a toxic substance carried on Board the aircraft to ignite the engine in the event of engine failure or a Flam out. Crandall from Phoenix ariz., is sur Vived by his wife Leanne his 1-year-old daughter Nichole his Mother Phyllis Skowrowski his Sisters Debbie Susan and Mary Ellen and a brother Tommy. Contributing to this report Start writers Rosemary Sawyer in Mainz and Joseph Owen in Stuttgart is photo by Steve Morriso Barracks tour Pic. Kevin p. Cox shows Rheinland Pfalz gov. Ber Nard Vogel the firing position for an m47 dragon anti tank weapon. Vogel and members of his staff visited Lee Barracks in Mainz thursday at the invitation of v corps cult Gen. John w. Woodman see or. Sgt Timothy Esch left Center stands ready to answer questions and col. William Barron right center8th inf div s 1st brigade commander Points oat the weapon s special features. Missile Italy from Page 1 opposition s request. / the opposition has also asked for a vote in the sen ate but no Date has been set for it. The government coalition also has a majority in the upper House. The coalition had viewed keeping the jets in the Mediterranean As an essential key to guaranteeing Security in nato s Southern flank. Opposition parties in the lower House argued on wednesday during the first Day of debate that Italy s acceptance of the planes would upset the strategic bal Ance Between East and West and hamper efforts to ease tensions Between the two blocs. From Page 1 soviet Union May conduct so called Baseline inspections allowed under the terms of the inf treaty finalized in Moscow last month. The initial phase in the 13-year inspection process will conclude aug. 31. The purpose of the Baseline inspection is to verify the number of items covered by the treaty on the soviet and . Bases. A team of soviet inspectors also was expected to arrive within the first Days of the inspection period. Under Fer s supervision . Escorts will accompany soviet inspectors during their visits to missile Sites in Europe. His office also will serve As the Gateway to the soviet Union for . Inspectors visiting soviet missile Sites. The historical significance of the assignment is not lost on Fer. It s exciting because it s something that s never been done before. It s something where you work with an adversary who has agreed to a monumentally historic d9cument along with the United states to do away with a whole class of weapons he said. As the world s first work Force to oversee the dismantling of an entire class of nuclear weapons the inspectors and escorts assigned to Fer s office Are a varied lot with an assortment of skills and backgrounds. Each Side will be Able to draw from a Pool of 200 inspectors who Are divided into groups of 10, Fer said. At least two members of each team must speak rus Sian fluently. Others will have a technical expertise in ground launched cruise missiles or in the Pershing us. They re All disciplines which will help us to basically inspect and to understand and to read for instance with our minds and our eyes what we re seeing Fer said. In other words if the soviets say that is an is 20, and our Guy says i Don t believe it because then he has the expertise to say that and explain  l he inspectors include civilians As Well As members of the military. Some of the inspectors were recruited for the Job others volunteered and some were located by  i was out doing mock inspections a month ago i ran into a schoolteacher up in Idaho who was linguist proficient in russian and we wound up taking him at feast six months said it. Col. Joseph Wago Vich an on site inspection Agency spokesman. The escorts and inspectors will be subject to some of the most elaborate regulations Ever worked out be tween the  first period of inspections which lasts for 60 Days Are Baseline inspections to help verify the initial Exchange of data. There also will be close out inspections when bases no longer contain treaty items. Elimination inspections allow the United states and soviet Union to observe the destruction of missiles and launchers at Elimina Tion facilities. Finally Short notice inspections which can be made for 13 years after the treaty goes into effect allow each Side to conduct inspections at facilities with Little Advance  s escorts All members of the military will Roll into action when soviet inspectors arrive at one of the so called Points of entry cities designated As the arrival  their part during the initial Baseline checks the soviet inspectors must wait at least four hours but not More than 48 hours 24 hours for All other inspections to Tell the americans which site they want to Check. The escorts must then get the soviets to the site within nine hours where they can spend the next 24 hours conducting their , once the inspectors arrive on base their equip ment also will be subject to strict guidelines. Inspectors May use measuring devices such As a meter pole often used in phot9graphy, or a tape Mea sure. They can use portable weighing Scales flashlights and devices to measure radioactivity. They will be allowed to take photographs but the treaty is very specific on the Type of  cameras capable of producing instant photo graphs such As Polaroid can be used. And the Side that is being inspected must take the photograph for the Side that is doing the inspecting. This is done to ensure that Only the item in question will be photographed and both sides will see right away what has been photographed Fer said. The treaty allows inspectors to photograph an item if they Are not sure what it is and if they Are not satisfied with the explanation provided by the escorts. We get into the area of self Protection. We Don t want them to bring in some camera first of All that was not mutually agreed upon by both sides Fer said. So now we have the camera and the next step is we Don t want you to take pictures of unauthorized things that May be in the  for the inspectors and escorts began in february shortly after the inspection Agency was formed. Mock inspections allowed both inspectors and escorts to  got the experience of escorting bringing them into the Points of entry did the in processing and the things you do there picked them up and transported them to the various Sites and did the inspection  in Early june Fer s office got a taste of the real thing when the inspection Agency conducted a no notice Drill and simulated a soviet team arriving for an inspection. I m quite pleased with the Way All that worked out Fer  now sees where All the Small pieces fit together. We. Learned All the lessons we Felt were necessary and then put it All together and Bingo kicked it  now for Fer and his team Spring training is Over. The next Kickoff will be for real