The 1972 Windsor Incident
Less than a year after the DC-10 was in service, a rear cargo door was improperly closed on a flight from Detroit, Michigan, and it blew open over Windsor, Ontario, causing the floor above it to collapse downward. Only the skill of the American Airlines pilot and a very lightly loaded airplane enabled the plane to land safely.
Ordinarily a problem of this magnitude would result in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issuing an Airworthiness Directive (AD), a public document that has the force of law, requiring owners of a particular aircraft to modify their airplanes within a certain time. But the FAA charter contains a dual mandate: The FAA must not only ensure aviation safety but also promote the aviation industry. An AD at this time would have given Lockheed a competitive advantage by drawing attention to the DC-10 problem. Instead, John Sheaffer, the head of the FAA, finessed these conflicting objectives by making a "gentleman's agreement" with McDonnell Douglas to develop a fix for the cargo door and implement it through service bulletins sent only to owners of DC-10s, thus avoiding harmful publicity.
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