AVIATION: Disintegration & Disaster

The 105 passengers with tickets on National Airlines 707 jet flight to Miami waited impatiently at New York's Idlewild Airport one night last week. Scheduled departure was 9:15 p.m., but the ground crew reported a cracked windshield on the Boeing 707, and National had to substitute two other planes—a turboprop Lockheed Electra and a conventional Douglas DC-6B. First come, first served, 76 passengers went aboard the Electra, and the plane roared off for Miami at 11:25, arrived safely about 3½ hours later. At 11:51 p.m. the remaining 29 passengers and a crew...

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