A Valentine for Connie

No airplane has been more buffeted by the "Is it safe?" controversy than Lockheed's four-engine, 60-passenger Constellation. Last week the black-eyed Connie found an outspoken champion in Assistant Secretary of Commerce (for air) William A. M. Burden. A knowing airman, Bill Burden told the Senate committee investigating air safety that "disproportionate attention" had been paid to the Connie's "occasional mishaps."

Before the Connie went into commercial service, said he, it had been put through 4,670 hours, or 1,401,000 miles, of test flying--without a single injury. The fire which got the Connie grounded last summer was no fault of the engine's induction system, as had been suspected, but was started by a short-circuited electric fitting. When this fitting was redesigned and a few other slight modifications made, the Connie, "already a fine airplane, became undoubtedly the most advanced airplane of its class . . . with respect to safety." The subsequent crash of a T.W.A. Constellation in Eire, killing 13, said he, was due to faulty maintenance of altimeters, not faulty design. Concluded Bill Burden: "The grounding action and resultant publicity have worked an undue-hardship on the Constellation. . . ."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.