My friend is looking for a book that she swears she’s seen before. It’s supposedly written by the CEO or some exec of United Airlines regarding the DC-10 crash of flight 232 in Iowa. Supposedly the FAA/NTSB ruled the crash pilot and aircraft error, but this exec felt it was totally aircraft error and cancelled all contracts with McDonald-Douglas in favor of Boeing.
I suppose my Google skills aren’t up to it, as the only books I find about flight 232 are written by survivors.
Can’t tell you much about a book, except that I think the NTSB ruled the crash the direct cause of the failure of an engine part – nothing having to do with pilot error.
The DC-10 had already gotten a reputation as a troublesome aircraft, and the crash of Flight 232 pretty much killed it off entirely as a passenger aircraft in the U.S.
Interesting – everything official I’ve read about the crash heaps praise on the flight crew for managing to get the airplane to an airport. There is a pdf of the NTSB report here.
I do remember that maintenance issues were cited and infant restraint laws for passengers came up, but I don’t recall the pilot or crew were ever blamed for anything. Do you have any more information?