Rebirth of the Military Industrial Overlord

On Friday, December 10, 1982, the Federal Aviation Administration announced the results of the investigation into the cause of the accident of West Bandas Flight 995. Two days later.

Another piece of news that is not very understandable to the public and unlikely to occupy any headlines in the media came. The Chicago Tribune prominently published the third largest airline in the country and the United Airlines headquartered in Chicago. A statement from, announcing that, out of the perspective of being responsible for passenger safety, the company will temporarily ground all DC-10 models until McDonnell Douglas makes a convincing official explanation, complete safety report and Provide proven safety measures to prevent the recurrence of such accidents.

The news has just arrived, and before the media has further interpreted the matter, and has not quickly formed a news hotspot, several groups of people have started to scold their mothers.

For example, FAA, which is the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States.

Obviously, the reason why the Federal Aviation Administration wanted to settle the matter with the previous ambiguous accident liability report, and did not impose a no-fly on the DC-10 and in-depth investigation of the cause of the accident. It must be that some of the key figures were caught by McDonnell Douglas. The result of successful "PR".

Officials did not investigate and deal with McDonnell Douglas further, but an airline took the initiative to ban the flying of its own DC-10 aircraft, and said that McDonnell Douglas should be held accountable... What do you want? Do you want to rebel against the upper ranks and replace our FAA's right to seize the life and death of civil aviation companies? Or do you hold back for too long, run out and slap us in the face, then go to death when you are finished? Don't you know, which airline the FAA wants to wear a few pairs of embroidered shoes, just like playing?

However, when they take a closer look at the name of the company that has popped up, they all turn to "Oh", um, forget it, we don’t know about it, you continue to tear it up and wait until there is a result. Let us go through a procedural cutscene...

what! Why are you so awesome with United Airlines?

Because, this United Airlines of the United States was originally a subsidiary of Boeing, but it was forcibly separated from Boeing because of a law promulgated by the government in 1926. This law stipulates that: aircraft manufacturing companies must be separated from aircraft operating companies.

Although it has become an "independent" airline, United Airlines is still inextricably linked with Boeing in terms of blood relationship and capital composition.

Therefore, it is normal for it to jump out and do this. You have to say that there is no Boeing black hand behind it, haha, are you all blind?

Since Boeing made the shot, everyone should stay aside and watch the excitement from a distance.

Well, yes, by the way, more than 20 years later, the United Airlines merged with the fourth-ranked Continental Airlines of the United States and became the world's largest airline.

The FAA said that it’s not a matter of hanging up high, and the loss is just a matter of face. This thing cannot be eaten and cannot be used. Since it has come out, it has long been taken seriously by them, and it can even be used to polish the soles when necessary. It doesn’t affect their salary issuance, "public relations fees" are taken, and they may be able to finish eating and eating at the bottom of the house, and benefit from both ends, but there are still a group of people who want to drag the United Airlines guys out and shoot them all for 5 minutes. It was relieved.

What, you guess it must be the McDonnell Douglas group?

Well, you guessed the children's shoes, but they are only half right.

Of course McDonnell Douglas did want to do this. What is the background and virtues of United Airlines? Of course, McDonnell did not expect to sell a few of their planes. Their main fleet was Boeing. There was an accident with McDonnell’s aircraft. It's normal to jump out and step on a foot for my relatives. Although this foot is a bit harder, it is not unexpected.

The real anger is actually several other airlines.

What do you say that United Airlines is doing? The FAA didn't say anything about your own prominence? You play yourself as a responsible airline for the safety of passengers. What do you want us to do?

If you don’t make the same grounding decision as you, wouldn’t others point to our spine and curse that we only want to make money stained with blood? But if DC-10 is grounded like you...

Especially for United Airlines, your heart is too dark, you can do nothing to compete, right? Let's count, your kid only has 2 DC-10s in operation. That means you bought it for Boeing to study competitor information and used it to show McDonnell Douglas to you, right? Even if all flights are grounded, the impact on you will be almost negligible, but can you look at us?

McDonnell Douglas and Boeing, the two largest civil aircraft manufacturers in the world, account for the percentage of the fleet of other airlines in the United States at around 1:1. After all, the airlines that are users of civil aircrafts In fact, when the aircraft is scarce resources, no one wants to offend it. If it stops, half of its long-range passenger aircraft will have to accumulate dust at home. This loss...

However, anger returns to anger, jumps to jumps, this kind of thing, as long as someone takes the lead, and then the media will praise it as "high wind and bright," your other airlines have only knocked down the front teeth and the blood, and you have to follow it. , You have to follow if you don’t!

So, half a day after this statement was issued, several major airlines across the country, such as American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines, etc., also stepped up and issued statements, expressing their support for the United Airlines. The spirit of being responsible for the safety of passengers and taking precautions against unburned has also stopped the DC-10.

Even FedEx has stepped up and issued a statement stating that it will ground all its DC-10 aircraft.

McDonnell Douglas: "Hey, I said the courier, what are you so silly about? You bought all cargo planes? It's not the same as our passenger planes, although they are called DC-10s. What are the configurations? But the difference is different, is it better?"

FedEx: "If you care about me, the cargo plane won't go up to the sky? The pilots on the cargo plane are also human? You have to consider their life safety. Besides, it won't work if the cargo plane is dropped, although our cargo is insured. Yes, but if it falls, we will have to lose a lot of money, right? Well, even if we don’t lose money, following this wave of craze, let’s play a free ad and check the traffic hot spots. Dear, please remember Live our slogan: Federal Express, mission must be achieved..."

McDonnell Douglas: "...you are ruthless when you fall into trouble!"

When things have reached this point, the FAA can no longer pretend to be deaf and sit on the sidelines. After all, the face of the federal government cannot always be used as a rag for the aftermath. In desperation, it has to stand up and pretend to be an afterthought. A statement stated that although there is no direct evidence that the 9.13 accident was caused by the design or manufacturing defects of McDonnell Douglas DC-10, it is better to ground the flight for a period of time. You can let the FAA restart the investigation to find out the accident. The real reason, as to whether it was McDonnell Douglas's responsibility in the end, ahem, there is an old saying in China that is good: "If you have it, you can change it, if you don't, you will be reluctant." Well, let's deal with it like this.

Of course, a few months later, people were surprised to find that this FAA statement turned out to be a coffin board for McDonnell Douglas. As for nailing, it goes without saying that many people are already eager to try.