Boosting the Safety Margin

After the second mid-air explosion in five months of a Lockheed Electra, FAA Administrator Elwood Quesada summoned airline representatives, aeronautical experts and Lockheed engineers to Washington last week for four days of closed-door talks. At week's end, Quesada ordered new restrictions on the 115 Electras in service, which will force airlines to change schedules, perhaps drop the planes from some routes. Items: P: A 295-m.p.h. limit was placed on cruising at the normal operational altitudes, 105 m.p.h. under the Eiectra's normal cruising speed, bringing it down to the speed of the older DC-ys. P: Immediate inspection of wing and fuselage spar for signs of structural damage. Each aircraft must be rechecked after it has been in severely turbulent air or made a hard landing.

P: Flight recorders must be installed to make a tape of the speed, altitude, functioning of the engines, etc. The recorders are encased in metal so that they would survive a crash, give investigators clues to the cause.

P:The autopilot on Electras must not be used until modified. FAA found that it did not work properly, made the plane "porpoise," i.e., jump sharply up and down and veer from side to side. P: Ground crews were ordered to be more careful in refueling the plane, since there has been "at least one incident in which serious damage to the wing structure resulted from malfunctioning of fuel-system components, and failure of servicing personnel" to do their job properly.

In addition, Lockheed will go over all of the engineering and aerodynamic planning that went into the design of the plane, check it for possible errors. It will also subject the structure of the power plant and the entire wing to static stress tests, put the parts in huge rigs, which will be twisted and turned to see if any flaws develop. The tests will take anywhere from three to nine months.

Neither FAA nor Lockheed had any proof of what had caused the two crashes. But with its new restrictions, FAA hopes that it is adding enough to the margin of safety of the plane to prevent any more disasters.

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