ered that the aircraft did not have any inherent defects and yet Douglas aircraft, despite a massive public relations campaign, lost millions in cancelled orders. The aircraft ended up seeing more service with foreign airlines than with domestic ones. This is all due to a mistaken impression that the aircraft had a safety issue. Another example of public opinion affecting an airline's revenue is the Alaska Flight 261 crash. The Seattle Times reported incorrectly that there was a problem with a particular inspection cycle for a part on the MD-80 aircraft. This one article affected the business of Alaska Airlines so much that they had the paper print a retraction ("Seattle Times Incorrectly Reports Inspection Cycle").The undercarriage of a Quantas Jet collapsed during taxi operations prior to takeoff (Cross). The gear let go with a pop and the engine buried itself into the ground and caught fire. The crew and passengers were all evacuated safely and there were no fatalities. It was discovered that the gear had most recently been worked on by a third party service facility due to a cost cutting measure (Cross). The most recent crash is the crash of the Concord. The aircraft had one of the most solid safety records in the industry. It took just one single crash and the aircraft earned a bad reputation (Dickey 08). The investigation hadn't even been completed when people were discussing the possible safety issues with the aircraft. The other Concords in service were taken out of service for inspections and weren't re-certified for flight until they had passed (Dickey 08). The Federal Aviation Administration does not have the resources to provide proper oversight. They are very short in the number of inspectors available and the budget doesn't allow a great deal of flexibility in getting the inspectors out into the field. They have the ability to instantly take an aircraft out of service if they feel that the safety of the airline's passenger...
