European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 20, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday january 20, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 5 age reported taking toll on Navy a-6es Seattle a More than half the Navy s a-6eintruder jets bombers designed to attack from Low Altitude have been grounded or restricted from Fly ing stressful Maneu vers because of age a newspaper reported. The intruder with terrain hugging and All weather electronics is designed to attack at night and in bad weather. But aviators say the dangerous duty is being mad even riskier by aging aircraft and a shortage of planes the Seattle Post intelligencer said. The Navy has flown the a-6e since 1972, but budget cuts in 1987 and 1988 mean the aging Fleet of a-6es will be forced to Fly 10 to 20 years More until the Carrier based a-12 stealth bomber is fully operation Al officers said. The Seattle Post intelligencer said that of the 289 a-6es, 52 Are grounded because they Are beyond the 2,200-hour life of the Wing and 120 that Are approach ing the 2,200-hour limit have been restricted to three is of Gravity in flight. The Navy estimates eight More a-6es will be grounded this year. A forces Are a measure of the stress on a body Dur ing rapid acceleration. Excessive a forces can tear off a Jet s wings. During combat an a-6e experiences 6 to6 /2 g a said Dur Roberson a retired Navy a-6 Pilot. An a-6e restricted to three 3 g s could do All of it usual Maneu vers but would require More space he said. Many squadrons must take a restricted intruder son six month Carrier cruises because there Are not enough fully capable a-6es, the newspaper quote Navy sources As saying. In 1987, nine training accidents made the a-6e the Navy s most dangerous aircraft. In april and May of last year four men died when two a-6es crashed near mount St. Helens while on training runs. The Acci dents were the Only two in the Navy in 1988, giving the service its lowest crash rate in 11 years. A congressional review deemed the 1988 crashes an aberration and not a trend upward in a-6e Acci Dent  the causes of the accidents have no been disclosed. The Post intelligencer said interviews and Nav documents some obtained under the Freedom of in formation act showed that Crew error was the leading cause of More than half the 62 intruder crashes in the past decade. Other crashes have been linked to the a-6e s age orto deficiencies that new equipment could Correct but exact numbers Are classified the Navy said. On jan.14, 1987, the Wing on a a-6e collapsed from Metal fatigue during a training flight in California killing the instructor Pilot. The plane was based at Washington s Whitbey Island Nas. Recent deaths prompted the Navy to redesign the ejection system on the two seat version of the a-6e. Iran bound Al 4 parts seized new York up customs agents on Longisland wednesday seized a plane ready for Takeoff loaded with parts for f-l4 tomcat Jet fighters an bound for Iran. Three Long Island men were arrested on conspiracy and illegal arms Export charges. The arrests at the Suffolk county Airport in West Hampton capped a six month investigation in which the suspects negotiated a $ 1 million Dollar Deal for the shipment with undercover Federal agents said Gary Hillberry the . Customs service special agent i charge of the new York Region. Before the plane could take off businessman George Demar 58, Pilot Paul Amara and aircraft parts broker Robert Lacavalla 36, were taken into custody at the Airport by customs agents assisted by state police Hill Berry said. The three men were to be arraigned in . District court in Brooklyn on charges of conspiracy and Viola Tion of the arms Export control act the agent said. The Trio allegedly arranged with undercover agents to transport the f-l4 fighter parts to Shannon Ireland for later diversion to Iran Hillberry said. The Jet was loaded with the parts and was ready for Takeoff when customs agents moved in to thwart the scheme he said. The Export of f-l4 parts to Iran without a stat department issued License is illegal said . Attorney Andrew Maloney. It was not known if the three were involved in ship Ping parts to Iran in the past and the investigation was continuing Maloney said. If convicted the three could each be fined up to$250,000 and be sentenced to 15 years in prison. School chief jailed for embezzlement Rutland it. A George Sleeman the King pin in what is considered the most widespread Case of Public corruption in Vermont history was sentence wednesday to a minimum of two years in jail. Judge Francis Mccaffrey sentenced the former Bennington school superintendent to jail terms of three to seven years on each count the terms to be served concurrently with a minimum of two years behind bars. Sleeman 58, was convicted last fall of eight counts of embezzlement and one count of false swearing All Stem Ming from allegations he used school Money for personal uses. Mccaffrey ordered Sleeman to make $8,425 in restitution and to perform 1,000 hours of Community service. Prosecutors had urged Mccaffrey to give Sleeman five to 10 years in jail while Sleeman s lawyer argue for no jail term saying his client had suffered enough. Sleeman was convicted of embezzling $4,285 in rent checks from two school Bank accounts for building space he leased and of lying about the rent Check during a february 1986 inquest into the Bennington school scandal. His conviction came in the first of four trials defaces on a series of charges that were prompted by the discovery in 1984, of a $2 million deficit in the Bennington school District. In All Sleeman is charged with embezzling $20,000and a car. He has yet to be tried on 21 embezzlement counts and three counts of false swearing stemming from state inquests in which he allegedly lied about his use of school funds. Military school cadets held in $4.5 million heist the plane was the Only Multi seat Navy aircraft that lacked a command ejection system allowing one crewman to eject the other. Senior Navy officials defend both the a-6e and the service s training but Don t conceal anxiety Over the deterioration of the a-6e Fleet. Anytime you put 3-g restrictions on an air plane the obvious answer is that you Are starting to affect your operations warned rear adm. Grady l. Jack son Wing commander at Whitbey. Whitbey is the Pacific Fleet base for a-6es the Atlantic Fleet base is Oceana Nas at Virginia Beach a. The common thread that we find in recent crashes and that we re working on All of the time i that the Mission of the a-6 is the hardest Mission that any Navy air plane has to do said rear adm. Fred Rick Metz who commanded the Whitbey air win until aug. 1. We train in conditions of Adverse weather. We be had them accidents in the most Adverse conditions that we can possibly Fly  the Navy has contracted with Boeing military air planes to build new composite material wings for the grounded bombers. But the program has suffered de lays since 1987. The Navy was forced in 1988 logo to Grumman corp., the a-6e manufacturer for 10 Metal wings in the meantime the Navy said. Sharing grief families of the 38 Syracuse University student skilled last month in the bombing of pan am flight 103 console each other in a ceremony  than 10,000 mourners attended at the Carrier dome. Newark . A two military school cadets robbed an armoured car of$4.5 million in a plan conceived by one Cadet s father authorities said in announcing their arrests. The father Robert j. Jasinski 51, of Boonton was a part time Driver for the Coin depot armoured car corp. Of Eliza Beth when one of its trucks was robbed dec. 22 in Clifton by two men dressed a police officers. The two policemen were William , 22, and Bryan smals 21, of col Umbus Ohio cadets on Christmas Vaca Tion from the Virginia military Institute of Lexington va., said John Mcginley head of the Fri s Newark Agency. The police uniforms were rented from a costume store in Paramus Mcginley said wednesday. The elder Jasinski met the hijacked a Mored car in a rented  to which the Money was transferred Mcginley said. A majority of the Money was recovered from an attic crawl space at the Home of a woman acquaintance of the Elde Jasinski Mcginley said. The three men were charged with interference with Commerce by threats or violence which carries a 20-year prison term upon conviction. The complaint said Robert j. Jasin Kiwas interviewed by an Fri agent on tuesday and at first denied the Allega Tion but later admitted planning it and implicated the cadets. Fri agent Frank Butler said Jasinski and smals confessed to the heist when they were questioned following arrest. In the stars and stripes 40 years ago today. Jan. 20, 1949 in order to curb an increase in illegal Crossings hungarian order officials began setting up wire barriers on their Side of the austrian hungarian Frontier. 30 years ago today. Jan. 20, 1959 for the first time in 13 years of postwar negotiations the unite states and Britain meeting with the soviets in Geneva agreed to isolate the problem of halting nuclear weapons tests from the broader Issue of disarmament. 20 years ago today. Jan. 20, 1969 All 38 people aboard an United airlines Boeing 727 were believed dead after the plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean moments after taking off from los Angeles International Airport during a severe rainstorm. 7 0 years ago today. Jan. 20, 1979 John Mitchell the first . Attorney general Ever sent to prison was freed on parole becoming the last of the convicted watergate defendants to be released from prison