European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 23, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 8 b the stars and stripes thursday january 23, 1992 High tech Airbus unsafe French pilots charge again Paris apr French pilots renewed complaints tuesday that the computer guided Airbus a320 is intrinsically unsafe after one of the jetliners crashed near Strasbourg killing scores of people. Three of the sophisticated aircraft have crashed in the four years since it began service. But Airbus industries the european consortium that builds the a320, claims it is safer than Ordinary air planes. A there is no regularity to the accidents a said Airbus spokesman David Velupillai. A they do not occur in a linear  the air inter flight that slammed into a wooded Ridge monday night while approaching Strasbourg on a flight from Lyon carried 96 people. Officials said there were Only nine known survivors. The cause of the crash was not immediately known. Experts were examining the aircraft a two Black boxes and transport minister Paul Quiles appointed a special commission to investigate the crash. Frances Union of pilots and flight engineers issued a communique saying that the a320�?Ts cockpit layout and Small Crew a Pilot and co Pilot without a flight Engineer a Are not enough to ensure safety. A several incidents raising questions about Security notably because of the workload have been the object of warnings by Crews a it said. Yves Stefan spokesman of the National airlines Pilot Union told Europe-1 radio that a for a Young aircraft this one has known quite a few  the Airbus a320 is a twin Turbofan plane designed for Short or medium Range flights. It operates on Fly by wire technology meaning computers Are capable of operating All flight controls. Unlike other planes therefore pilots commands Are not passed directly to the cables but to computers which can determine whether a command is Safe and can override it. Some pilots have trouble adjusting to the technology. But others who have mastered it find the plane particularly easy to Fly. Airbus and crash investigators blamed Pilot error in both previous a320 crashes though some aviation officials Nave suggested computer malfunction. The Fly by wire technology was developed Over four years at a Cost of $2 billion. The first a320 crash occurred in june 1988 while the plane was executing a Low pass during an air show at Hab sheim France. Three passengers were killed. The Pilot said the aircraft failed to respond to his commands to give it More Power. In february 1990, a 3-month-old a320 crashed while preparing for Landing in Bangalore India killing 92 people. India airlines pilots complained that the sophisticated technology required ground maintenance unavailable in India. Waite ties Sutherland s criticism to insufficient recovery time London apr Terry Waite who has been criticized by fellow hostage Thomas Sutherland said tuesday that insufficient recovery time after Sutherland was released accounted for his comments. Sutherland who was freed with Waite last november after Many months of sharing the same cell told a symposium in the United states a month later that Waite was a a difficult Man to get along with on Many  he also said he found Waite insensitive to their captors adding that he was Quot not at All the kind of person that i personally would have liked to have seen negotiating with  Waite went to Beirut Lebanon As the envoy of the archbishop of Canterbury to try to secure the release of Western hostages held by islamic fundamentalist groups in Beirut. Speaking for the first time about Sutherland a remarks Waite said tuesday that he thought his fellow hostage had not been Given enough time to recover from his ordeal and that this Lay behind the comments. Sutherland spent a week at the . Air Force Hospital in Wiesbaden Germany before returning to the United states. Waite spent More than three weeks at the Royal air Force base at Lyneham England when he returned from Lebanon. He was speaking at his first Public engagement since his release. The event was a reception supporting a Charity group called victim support which offers help to the victims of crime in Britain. Waiters one time employer former archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie introduced him As one of Waite Sutherland Britain s a most famous  Waite said he and the other British hostages had benefited immensely from the help and support provided by the staff at Lyneham where All had spent several weeks after their return to Britain. A i done to feel the need for that support now but then i be been fortunate. Hostages who did no to have it at the time have really had a Tough time  Sutherland he said was a a Nice Chap a Good straightforward  a unfortunately he is a bit of an example of what i was saying. He did no to have a Chance to take time before meeting everybody after he was released. I think that accounts for some of the remarks he made about me. Quot but Tom is of. He is All right. He has been through a lot a world Issue of Comfort girls closed japanese insist from wire reports Tokyo a Japan insisted wednesday that the Issue of compensation to thousands of korean women forced to be sex slaves to Imperial army troops during world War ii was closed. Deputy chief Cabinet Secretary Noboru Ishi Hara said Japan would discuss the South korean request because there was no mention of the women a so called a Comfort girls a in the 1965 treaty providing for War reparations but he said the government s position had not  pianist Dupree Dies Hamburg Germany a new Orleans born jazz pianist a Cha motion Jack Dupree whose barrelhouse style influenced Rock musicians such As Eric Clapton and John Mayall died of cancer tuesday at the age of 82. Dupree s agent Karsten Jahnke said Dupree kept performing until last november despite his illness and died at his Home in Hannover where he had lived since 1975. Dupree had resided in Europe since 1958, said the Hamburg agent and had often performed in clubs in Britain where Clapton Mayall and others Learned from his rollicking blues style. Dupree had 11 children from three marriages and had been divorced three times his agent  airman pleads guilty to using anabolic steroids Hahn a Germany a a Security policeman was convicted of using and possessing anabolic steroids after pleading guilty in a special court martial dec. 6. Senior airman Joseph s. Christoff assigned to the 583rd Security police so admitted using anabolic steroids periodically for several years. Christoff a bodybuilder was sentenced to 115 Days confinement forfeiture of $250 for four months and reduction in rank from senior airman to airman. Hahn a released information on the Case earlier this month. In a search of Christ offs Home Hahn military officials found 18 empty self contained Needles and syringes with residue of anabolic steroids. Christoff pleaded guilty to one count of wrongful use of anabolic steroids one count of attempted wrongful Possession of anabolic steroids and one count of possessing drug abuse paraphernalia Needles and syringes. Possession of anabolic steroids was added to the list of crimes under the uniform code of military Justice last  Sale set Friday Giessen Germany a the defense re utilization and marketing office has announced an appliance and furniture Sale Friday in building 250 at the Giessen depot. Items for Sale include electric and Gas ranges washers dryers refrigerators chairs hutches buffets and other furniture. Appliances Are 220 Volt. The Sale is open to id card holders from 9 . To 10 . And to the general Public from 10 . Until noon. Purchases must be made in . Dollars Only and items must be removed by noon on the Day of the Sale. No checks will be accepted. All merchandise will be sold As is.105 died in Stampede at fest China reveals Beijing up Media disclosed for official chinese the first Lime wednesday that 105 people were trampled to death in september in a Stampede at a foreign Friendship week Trade Estival in North Central Shan i province. The belated disclosure came in the form of a Shan i government Resolution in which local communist authorities took responsibility for the sept. 24 incident the state run Shanghai daily Wen Ruibao said. The Resolution blamed the incident on numerous errors and lapses of responsibility by local officials police and organizers of the ambitious we Klong festival in the provincial capital Taiyuan. Huge crowds pushed their Way into Yingzue Park on what the report called a Balmy autumn evening to View a nighttime lantern festival that was part of foreign Friendship week a promotion aimed at attracting foreign investment. Because the 80-cent admission tickets were unnumbered police had no Way of determining How Many were sold or How Many people tried to crowd into the Park. Quot at about 8 . People began overcrowding an area near the Pikong Bridge a the report said. Quot being pushed and squeezed some people fell As people behind them kept forcing their Way ahead. A it was then that the tragedy happened killing 105 people and injuring 108,�?� it said. The report made no reference to foreigners Likely indicating All the casualties were chinese. The four month delay in reporting the incident shed Light on the handling of major disasters in China whose strictly controlled state press is under Law Little More than a propaganda Organ of the ruling communist party. Although the practice of concealing disasters has decreased gradually since China ended its Long isolation in 1978, the government remains loathe to disclose embarrassing lapses until someone has been blamed. A spokesman for official Shan i daily reached by Telephone from Beijing said he was unsure Why the incident was not reported earlier in the National Media adding by Way of explanation that even local coverage of the incident was extremely scant. A the Shan i daily gave a Brief account on Page 2 on the Day after the incident but without such details As the death toll number of injured and what caused the Accident a said the spokesman who identified himself As or. Jia