Hot Clothes at Idlewild

A new hazard of the nuclear age came to light last week. Five mechanics of Pan American World Airways had been in Gander, Nfld., to check the Boeing 707 jetliner that went into an unscheduled dive-and almost plunged its passengers into the Atlantic (TIME, Feb. 16). They did their job and returned to New York. When the mechanics passed through a gate at Idlewild International Airport, one of the unseen Geiger counters that monitor international travelers chattered an alarm; some of the work clothes they were wearing were radioactive. At the Pan American dispensary, they were decontaminated and pronounced in no danger, but reports of the affair brought Radiation Expert James D. Terrill of the U.S. Public Health Service up from Washington to investigate.

The incident revealed that1) the U.S. had prudently installed a system to check incoming travelers for radioactive material; 2) nuclear bomb tests have left enough radioactive debris in the atmosphere to contaminate high-flying planes. Pan Am's 707 had been flying at about 35,000 ft., and the radioactive particles had stuck to oily outside surfaces; when the mechanics checked the aircraft, their gloves and clothes picked up a charge.

Radioactivity has been found before on Air Force jets, the Atomic Energy Commission admitted, but this was the first time that a commercial jet had been involved. The amount of contamination was not considered large enough to present any threats to passengers, but might endanger mechanics who were exposed to it for long periods while servicing the plane. Though the Public Health Service had not yet decided what precautions should be taken, Pan Am washed down the rest of its jets, may institute a system of spot checking jet flights for any trace of radioactivity.

*In a preliminary report, Federal Aviation Agency inspectors have concluded that the 7O7's trouble started with the automatic pilot, and in particular with the elevator trim tabs, which control the airplane's up-or down-or level-flight attitude. They also found breaches of operating procedure: i) the automatic flight recorder had no tape in it; 2) only one pilot was in the cockpit instead of two, as required on international flights; 3) the copilot, alone at the controls, had pushed his seat so far back that when the dive began, he could not reach them quickly.

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