The Flight 981 Disaster by Samme Chittum

Author:Samme Chittum
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Smithsonian
Published: 2017-10-03T04:00:00+00:00

Basnight’s testimony, in conjunction with the articles published in the Sunday Times, made it clear that the behind-the-barn handshake deal between the two men had downplayed the urgency of the problem and left it up to McDonnell Douglas to fix the door without any oversight from the FAA. Alarmingly, the red flags raised by the NTSB and heeded by lower-level FAA regulators had been ignored. The agreement between Shaffer and McGowen threw a dark shadow on the reputation of a respected American company and leader in the world of aviation technology. And the FAA’s decision to turn a blind eye to the problem gave Americans another reason to be cynical about the trust they placed in their government; Basnight’s memo pointing to a too-cozy relationship between the FAA and McDonnell Douglas took on an even more sinister cast in light of the larger drama playing out in Washington in the spring of 1974. All eyes were then on the Nixon White House as the political fallout from Watergate dominated every news cycle. In February, the House of Representatives had voted to authorize the House Judiciary Committee to launch an investigation into whether grounds existed for the impeachment of President Nixon. And on March 1, Nixon was named as an unindicted coconspirator in an indictment against seven former presidential aides linked to the break-in at Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate office complex on June 17, 1972. The investigation into the break-in had uncovered illegalities and dirty tricks used by the Nixon administration, which became ensnared in a massive and ultimately failed cover-up designed to protect the president.

Shaffer, a former Nixon aide, was perceived as linked to the disgraced administration. So it was no surprise when he was asked to explain $75,000 in contributions made by McDonnell Douglas to the Nixon reelection campaign and the Republican National Committee. The timing of the donations looked suspicious in hindsight, since they were made in the months before and after the Windsor incident. Democratic senators caught the whiff of what appeared to be an unsavory agreement or informal quid pro quo between Shaffer and McGowen: perhaps if the FAA would agree not to proceed with the AD, then a grateful McDonnell Douglas would write a check to help the Republican Party. Democratic senator Adlai E. Stevenson led the charge. Shaffer “blustered denials,” according to Johnston, and the allegations were never proven. But the damage had been done. McDonnell Douglas president John Brizendine would later tell Johnston that he felt his company had been unfairly tainted by Watergate because “people, and in large part the media,” were “looking for villains.”

The hearings amounted to a public shaming of the FAA and McDonnell Douglas executives. And they gave Basnight the forum he needed to expose the gentleman’s agreement between Shaffer and McGowen. But the senators did little more than ask open-ended questions that Shaffer and McGowen deflected or dodged. “I think in that sense, the Senate hearing was probably too early,” said Eddy. “They wanted the headlines, of course.

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