reenwald 40). Investigators determined that the cause of this disaster was a single faulty door lock. This insignificant door lock could have been replaced many times so that such a disaster and loss of life could have been avoided. Who is taking responsibility for these problems? Where are the maintenance crews and safety inspectors whose responsibility it is to prevent these accidents by repairing and maintaining the airplanes? In 1979 shortly after take off from a Chicago, Illinois airport, American Airlines DC-10 lost its left-wing engine (see picture next page: URL http://www.tstonramp.com/-kebab/w79052.5htm). The engine smashed against the plane, tearing out the hydraulic lines that connect to the rudder that steers the plane. Ultimately the plane crashed killing all 273 passengers and flight crew aboard. All DC-10's were then ordered to be inspected, but five weeks later the planes were sent aloft without the inspections ever taking place ("New Qualms" 20). There have been many incidences in the past of certain models of airplanes that seem to keep having mechanical malfunctions. Despite events that have caused suspension of faulty equipment in two recent crashes of the Boeing 747, nobody has penned the mainstay of International Air Transportation- the 747- as unsafe (Nelan 52). One eight-year-old 737 had one engine completely fall off the plane after leaving Chicago O'Hare Airport (Greenwald 40). The plane did return safely. The average age of an airplane fleet is thirteen to fifteen years with close to 20,000 flights. Because of the need to replace these "worn out" planes, many airline companies are buying new planes as fast as they are being manufactured. This means that the large manufacturers that build airplanes are trying to produce more planes faster so that airlines can buy planes from them. In a race to meet the demands of the airline companies, manufacturers are not checking or testing their planes for ...
