Business Notes AIR SAFETY

After a major air crash, it can take the Federal Aviation Administration months or even years to act to prevent a repeat tragedy. Last week the FAA proposed an order to require DC-10 operators to modify their planes to prevent the kind of hydraulic failure that caused a United Airlines DC-10 to crash in Sioux City, Iowa, last July, leaving 112 dead. Expected to take effect this summer, the order calls on U.S. airlines to install a hydraulic shutoff valve in the tail section of 243 DC-10s at a collective cost of $7.7 million.

The agency acted more swiftly to address another threat to safety. Last week, just six days after a Northwest crew flying from Fargo, N. Dak., to Minneapolis was found to have been intoxicated on the job (though without incident), the FAA ordered its inspectors to notify airlines whenever a crew member is suspected of using drugs or alcohol before a flight. The directive also gave inspectors more latitude to ground flights in such cases. As for the three members of the Northwest crew, the FAA revoked their licenses.