Jan 26 1976
From The Space Library
Prompted by the crash of a TWA flight near Dulles Airport that took 92 lives in Dec. 1974, the Federal Aviation Administration hired 6 veteran airline pilots to analyze air traffic-control procedures, but the findings were so scathing that the report had not been released, said an editorial in the Washington Star. The National Transportation Safety Board this week issued its findings in the case with a "rare dissent" in assigning blame for the crash. The Star pointed out that, although the Air Line Pilots Assn. disagreed with the majority finding of pilot error and the Professional Air Traffic Controllers disagreed with the minority finding of ground-control error, leaders of both groups-and members of the board-all questioned FAA handling of its responsibilities. The Star called on new FAA administrator John McLucas, sworn in in Nov., to make air safety his highest priority. (W Star, 26 Jan 76, A-14)
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had joined in research in Antarctica on stratospheric pollution with a team from the Univ. of Wyo. supported by the National-Science Foundation. NOAA's Aeronomy Laboratory would launch 2 balloons carrying probes with containers that would open at different altitudes to collect a vertical profile of fluorocarbons and nitrogen oxides in the relatively clean stratosphere over Antarctica. The measurements would be used in testing two theories of ozone destruction in the stratosphere, the first being the production of destructive chlorine through breakdown of manmade fluorocarbon aerosols migrating into the upper atmosphere. The other theory posed a natural ozone-limiting cycle, involving dissociation in the stratosphere of bacterially produced nitrous oxide that became nitric oxide harmful to the ozone layer. The Antarctic launches would help to explain variations in nitrous oxide measurements as a function of latitude, season, or some other cause. (NOAA Release 76-17)
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