Part 5 (1/2)
The National Transportation Safety Board had representativesthe situation within an hour of the first reports from Dallas, San Francisco, Atlanta, and Tampa When all 737's were accounted for, the individual airports and the FAA lifted flight restrictions and left it to the airlines to straighten out the scheduling ers and alrounded
It was a good thing their reservation co
DISASTER IN AIR CREATES PANIC ON GROUND by Scott Mason
”A national tragedy was avoided today by the quick and brave actions of hundreds of air traffic controllers and pilots working in harmony,” a spokesperson for The Depart on yesterday's failure of the co 737 airplanes
”In the interest of safety for all concerned, 737's will not be peration has taken place” the spokesperson continued ”That process should be complete within 30 days”
In all, 114 people were sent to hospitals, 29 in serious condi- tion, as a result of injuries sustained while pilots perfornor the Transportation Safety Board would comment on how computer errors could suddenly affect so many airplanes at once, but some coe According to Harold Greenwood, an aeronautic elec- tronics specialist with Air Systeia, ”there is a real and definite possibility that there has been a specific attack on the airline computers Probably by hackers Either that or theerror in history”
Government officials discounted Greenwood's theories and said there is no place for wild speculation that could create panic in the ht cancellations busied the phones at antuan task of rescheduling thousands of flights with 30 less planes began Airline officials who didn't want to be quoted esti the systeether,
Airline fares will increase next Monday by at least 10 and as much as 40 on some routes that will not be restored fully
The tone of the press conference held at the DoT was one of both bitterness and shock as was that of sampled public opinion
”I think I'll take the train”
”Computers? They always blame the computers Who's really at fault?”
”They're just as bad as the oil co and they jack up the prices”
The National Transportation Safety Board said it would also institute a series of preventative maintenance steps on other airplanes' colobal failure is never repeated
Major domestic airlines announced they would try to lease addi- tional planes frouarantee prior service performance for 3 to 6 months Preliminary estimates place the cost of this debacle at between 800 Million and 2 Billion if the entire 737 fleet is grounded for only 2 weeks
The Stock Market reacted poorly to the news, and transportation stocks dove an average of 27 in heavy trading
The White House issued a brief state of the situation and wished its best to all inconvenienced and injured travelers
Class action suits will be filed next week against the airlines and Boeing as a result of the co the train
”Doug,” pleaded 39 year old veteran reporter Scott Mason ”Not another coed his shoulders inordered in fun ”You are the special- ist,” he chided
When the story first caical choice In only seven years as a reporter Scott Mason had de- veloped quite a reputation for hi had had to eat his words from years earlier more times than he cared to remember, but Scott's head had not swelled to the size of his fan club, which was the bane of so ood, just like he had told Doug
”There is nothing sexy about viruses anynore his boss to the point he would just leave
”Christ Al sixtyish editor exploded
Doug's periodic exclamatory outbursts at Scott's nonchalance on critical issues were legendary ”The e of every paper in the country doesn't think a virus is sexy enough for the public Good night!”
”That's not what I'ot soo on the record about the solar payoff scandals between Oil and Congress”