"The Electra's O.K." So said Federal Aviation Agency Chief Elwood R. Quesada last week as he lifted the 259-mile-an-hour speed restriction he had imposed on the plane nearly a year ago after two crashes took 97 lives. The FAA had taken improved Electras, their engine mounts and wings strengthened to eliminate the gyroscopic resonance (i.e., vibration) that had torn the wings off two planes, and then put them through spins and power dives in what Quesada called "probably the toughest flight check yet."
While FAA inspectors looked on, the Electra's builder,...
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