European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 10, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                It a i  a a Quot s a a _ thursday january 10, 1991 the stars and stripes a a. Page 9 Over sky cowboys now branded As army relics of yesteryear \ by Rosemary Sawyer staff writer a Cowboy bobs Guerrera was part of a vanishing Breed a thrill seeking chopper Pilot with a reputation for flying fast and Low. Perhaps that what killed him though the army says it can to be absolutely sure. Maybe it was a careless. Mistake maybe a mechanical malfunction. In any event the army has closed the books on the 1988 Accident that left the Kiowa scout helicopter 213 feet beneath the surface of a bavarian Lake. Still unclear is whether chief warrant officer 2 Robert j. Guerrera should have been at the controls at All that Day. He was known to be a a High risk aviator the Type of Pilot the army says it no longer tolerates. Witnesses said Guerrera was flying the of i-58 off course just a few feet above Sharnberg Lake Southwest of Munich when it crashed into the Ripples at More than 100 Runph. The co Pilot 1st it. Richard Shaw survived with moderate injuries. Guerrera suffered head injuries and drowned. Ten Days later Navy divers retrieved his body from the remnants of the $250,000 aircraft. An 8th inf div investigation concluded that it was impossible to a positively determine the cause of this  the chopper wreckage could not be recovered. And dead pilots done to talk. However the Board did find a Pilot error played either a direct or contributing  if the helicopter had malfunctioned Guerrera was not within gliding distance of Shore making recovery nearly impossible it said. A a a a a a if there was no mechanical malfunction a the report continued a then there is no other conclusion chief warrant officer 2 Guerrera inadvertently flew the aircraft into the  shawls testimony did not shed much Light on Why Guerrera strayed from his designated flight path or Why he dipped so Low Over the Lake when his orders were to stay above 400 feet. Guerrera 30, did not Tell his co Pilot w by he flew Over a pair of lakes on the Way from bad Kreuz Nach to bad Tolz the morning of the crash Shaw testified. Likewise the warrant officer did not explain to the 26-year-old lieutenant Why he was drawn again to the lakes when returning to the bad Kreuz Nach Home of cog 4th aviation regt. / a i can Only speculate that flying Over the water thrilled him a Shaw said. Thrills probably were a big reason that the husband and father of two w As flying that june 14. The boards report said Guerrera  reputation among fellow soldiers As a High risk aviator. Cowboy bobs had a propensity for flying Low and fast. Enlisted Crew personnel told the Board that they loved to Fly with him because unlike the other a ibo ring pilots Guerrera a gave them a thrill.�?�. A a a is amp silo John photon diving Crews in 1988 use a platform to search for a Cowboy bobs cd Errera a helicopter in Sharnberg Lake. In the year before Guerrera a death fellow aviators formally cited him four times for hazardous flying. Two of the Hazard reports claimed Guerrera had performed risky High Speed nose Low takeoffs nicknamed a Cav  another said he had exercised poor judgment taking off in bad weather and a fourth said he failed to yield to incoming aircraft traffic. He received verbal. Counselling for the incidents. The investigation Board recommended another team be formed to investigate possible negligence on the part of the company commander for not grounding Guerrera. But according to information obtained. Under the Freedom of information act no Board was Ever created. Officials with the 8th inf div declined to talk about the Accident saying those most familiar with the Case. Have left the command. Aviation leaders said hot dog pilots Are the exception Frankfurt a amps graphic. In today a army. The Era when pilots such As Candy bomber Gail Halvorsen could make the rules As they went along is Over. Halvorsen blatantly disobeyed orders by dropping sweets to children during the Berlin Airlift. A a that a the old White Scarf goggle army and its not there now a said col. Johnnie Hitt who commands the 11th aviation brigade in Hillesheim Germany. A a there a too much technology too expensive equipment and people s lives Are too valuable to do things like that now a. The instrument panel on the army a most advanced aircraft the Apache attack helicopter for example has More than 2,000 switch combinations that the Pilot must memorize. Hitt an army Pilot of More than 20 years conceded that throwing one wrong switch wont necessarily Send the $10 million chopper careening to the Earth a but you have to be  pilots now must be like boy scouts a trustworthy Loyal dependable he said. While aggressiveness can be a Quality of a Good flier it does no to mean being a Cowboy. Quot a Cowboy normally takes the connotation that a Pilot went out and did things with a helicopter that Aren t normally done a Hitt said. Voso if he was doing that he was wrong. And that a not being aggressive that a being stupid.�?�. The image of the carousing aviator has t died of its own volition Hitt said. A a we be tried very hard in the last few years to change that and make sure people understand that we re not alcoholics everyone of us and we done to go out and drink and raise Heck every  its Lack of discipline More than anything else that can ruin a Soldier or unit said col. Charles m. Burke commander of the 3rd army dives combat aviation brigade. A a i expect him a Pilot to be disciplined on duty and off duty. Burke said. A i would like to report out to you that most of the pilots that we have in the army today Are exactly like  a units leaders  tone for How disciplined its members will be Burke said. The army s smaller. Aviation units now allow commanders to know their troops better and head off accidents. A company commander a knows them l in lives with them. He works with them. He socialize with them a Mitt said. That officer can ground them from a Mission a with no reason except that he thinks that individual is not capable of doing something with that multimillion Dollar piece of  smaller units also enable soldiers to better understand their leaders expectations. A if the of incr while he a flying the aircraft feels that his commander is sitting on his shoulders then he a not going to Buzz the cattle or Buzz the Sailboat a Burke said. But accidents happen. A Board determined that human error caused an Apache helicopter crash in september 1989. I he 12th aviation brigade Pilot chose to continue Low level flight off the designated route. He also failed during preflight preparation to accurately map the wires that ultimately downed the $ 10 million aircraft. The commander however chose not to take the boards recommendation that the Pilot and co Pilot be Given either letters of reprimand or have their pay docked several months. Commanders look at Quot the whole Man Quot when deciding what to do with an aviator who slips up Burke said. A sometimes it is an error of commission where a Guy purposely violates a procedure. I be knows that he violated a procedure and May even have a history of that. In those instances the appropriate action could be punishment or Fine or elimination from the service taken off flight status.�?�. Such a scenario is the exception Burke said. A a a most of the soldiers that in be experienced and especially the ones in this command Are All trying to do the right thing. So the mistakes that they usually make Are acts of omission. It was an honest