Word: faa
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...FAA ordered the mandatory searches for impeccable reasons: Aircraft hijacking was rampant (35 attempts in 1972), and the highly-touted Air Marshall program--1300 armed guards riding shotgun, incognito, on commercial flights--was considered expensive, ineffective and potentially dangerous to passengers' safety...
...firmly believe that the place to stop hijackers is at the aircraft's boarding gate," said FAA Director John H. Shaffer. So did most people, apparently, for there were no significant protests when 007-like X-ray and metal detection gadgets appeared in airports in February 1973. Americans generally considered, and still consider, such blanket security to be a small price to pay for an end to hijackings...
...April, Freelandia lost its DC-8. Moss contends that he returned it to the owner because it was a lemon, but others say that it was repossessed. Moss now admits that he lied when he claimed he was not into Freelandia for the money. The FAA is challenging Freelandia's certification as an air club allowed to woo passengers by charging low fares. In the courts, Moss's lawyers so far have battled the FAA to a standoff, and he has managed to lease a Convair 880 to replace the DC-8. Though there have been no Freelandia...
Another question is why the FAA acceded to the company's request. Former FAA Administrator John Shaffer, who dealt with McDonnell Douglas, says that a service bulletin is as effective as an airworthiness directive. That view seems questionable. House subcommittee records indicate that several planes were still not modified eight months after the bulletin had been issued. The bulletin did spell out clearly how an airline could take precautions to make sure that the cargo door was locked. They included fitting a support plate on the door, installing a window in the door so that a ground-crew member...
More Backbone. To some critics, the incident seems characteristic of the way the FAA operates. The National Transportation Safety Board says that only about half the design changes it recommends ever become airworthiness directives. Critics complain that the FAA worries too much about the impact of its actions on industry profits. But Alexander Butterfield, the FAA administrator, has lately won praise for putting more backbone into the agency...