SIXTEEN MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE
W4ntfdar. April 17, 19S7
Passenger Airliners Undergo Regular
Inspection for Assurance of Safety
Editor'! note: This U tht third in a
ir traffic safety and congestion in
the United States.
By ROBERT J. SERLING
United Piesi Correspondent
Washington (U.R) The old
est commercial airliner in serv
ice today is mechanically as new
as an automobile with only 6,000
miles on its speedometer.
That fact exemplifies the care
that goes into the construction
and maintenance of America's
1,600-plane commercial air fleet.
New planes are tested for
thousands of hours before they
are officially certified as safe for
carrying passengers. Airlines al"
ready In service are subjected to
regular and frequent inspection.
After every 8,000 hours of flight
time, they literally are rebuilt.
All these safety measures,
however, have never completely
eliminated the "bugs" that seem
to plague all types of aircraft.
Almost every transport plane
used by U. S. airlines since 1946
has suffered some kind of major
mechanical malfunction that was
undetected in all the pre-certification
testing. And some of these
difficulties have caused fatal
crashes.
Tape Tore Loose
For example:
DC-4 The nation's first four
ngined airliner was flown for
hundreds of thousands of hours
as a wartime transport. Yet all
this operational experience fail
ed to uncover a small but vital
weakness a piece of bonding
tape on the tail which, when
worked loose, ballooned into the
wind and created what amount
ed to a giant air brake. This de
fect sent one Eastern Airlines
DC4 to its death, killing 50 per
sons. The Eastern crash, on May
30, 1948, was an unsolved mys
tery until another DC4, almost
three years later, went into a
sudden dive and recovered only
a few hundred feet from the
ground. Examination of this air
craft revealed the culprit the
ripped bonding tape.
Constellation This sleek,
triple tailed beauty was ground
ed temporarily a few years ago
when a mid-air fire and subse
quent crash revealed inherent
weaknesses in the plane's elec
trical system.
Fuel Transfer Blamed
DC6 In 1947. a United Air
lines DC6 caught fire over Utah
and crashed. Cause of the blaze
was unknown until an Ameri
can DC6 also caught fire but
managed to land safely. Investi
gators found a flaw in the plane's
system for transferring fuel
from one wing tank to another.
Under certain conditions, over
flowing gas would leak into the
ducts of the cabin heater and
ieinite. Every DC6 was grounded
for modification of the fuel tank
system.
Martin 202 In 1943, one of
these twin-engined transports op
erated by Northwest Airlines
fell apart in a thunderstorm near
Winona, Minn. One wing was
found some distance from the
rest of the wreckage and investi
gators suspected structural fail
ure which had not occurred
on a scheduled airliner since
1931. Examination of North
west's entire 202 fleet revealed
fatigue cracks in the wings of
five planes. The 202 was ground
ed until the weakness, an inade
quate wing "flange," was cor
rected. Stratocruiser Several crashes
involving this Boeing-built giant
were blamed on failure of a new
type of propeller.
DC7 In its early months of
service, this fastest of piston
engined transports suffered an
embarrassing number of in-flight
engine failures until technicians
solved a fuel mixture problem.
Bolls Were Faulty
Viscount A few weeks ago,
one of these British-made turbo
prop planes crashed in England.
The accident was - caused by
faulty bolts in the wing flaps.
Later models of the airliner,
used in this eountry by Capital
Airlines, were immediately in
spected to make sure they did
not have a similar flaw. They
didn't.
"We could test every new type
of plane for 200,000 hours or
more to see what bugs develop,"
a Civil Aeronautics Administra-'
tion official said. "But such
lengthy testing would be the eco
nomic ruin of every airplane
manufacturer who has millions
tied up in tooling. Every certi
fied plane must pass difficult
tests and meet or surpass rigid
performance specifications such
as ability to climb safely even
when an engine fails on takeoff.
The public never hears about
the hundreds of so-called bugs
that are eliminated by these
tests."
J In addition to this elaborate
1 pre-certification testing, the gov
ernment requires every carrier
to follow certain maintenance
standards. These include:
Plane Taken Apart
Visual inspection of a plane
after every landing, with empha
sis on correcting complaints re
ported by crews.
Basic inspections performed
every 130 hours' or sooner, in
cluding installation of new spark
plugs and opening up engine
nacelles for a closer check than
in step 1.
4
CLUB
NEWS
Busy Bees Sewing Club
The Busy Bees Sewing club
held their Mothers Tea Friday
in the Methodist church. Miss
Marge Hatton, county extension
agent, was present as well as all
the mothers; the fourth grade
teachers, Mrs. Stabler and Mrs.
Jacobson; Mrs. Throne and Mrs.
Thompson from the school cafe
eteria; Mrs. Jones, our 4-H lead
er; and two grandmothers, Mrs.
Robert Pugh and Mrs. Joe
Lewis. The girls will took part in
the program, demonstrating the
things they have learned to do.
After the program '.he girls ser
ved mothers and visitors refresh
ments. Peggy Dye,
Reporter
WHICH CAME FIRST?
Denver, Colo. (U.R) State
Rep. Palmer Burch admits he is
stumped when it comes to taxing
turkeys. "On assessment day,
Feb. 1, the turkey isn't even an
egg," Burch said. "And at the
end of the year, when taxes are
due, he's hash."
Regular overhaul of engines
Newer types must be pulled out
and overhauled after every 800
hours of operation. 'Older, more
proven engines may go as long
as 1,900 hours between over
hauls. Every 8,000 hours, an air
liner is taken completely apart
and literally rebuilt. This in
volves not only brand-new en
gines, but may even mean new
wings, new fuselage and other
major parts. ,
That is why the CAA can say
"There is no such thing as an
old airplane."
Tomorrow Jet planes will be
safer.
Grange Notes
Shady Cove Grange
The regular monthly business
meeting of Shady Cove Grange
was held Wednesday, April 10,
in the school music room.
Mr. and Mrs. Ernie Segessen
man were voted into the Grange
by demit from the Upper
Rogue Grange.
Reports were given from the
following committees: HEC, leg
islative, youth, fire, roads, flood
control, safety and insurance.
Those attending the lectur
er's school in Ashland were
Mrs. T. M. Littlefield; lecturer;
Mrs. C. Kee, secretary, and Mrs.
Ed Houston, HEC chairman.
The lecturer's . program was
puttn by the agriculture chair'
man, Mrs. Ed Stothers.
Attendance pins were pre
sented to seven members.
The next regular meeting will
be April 24 with a potluck sup
per at 6:30 p.m. in the Shady
Cove school cafeteria.
D. A. Littlefield,
Publicity Chairman
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