The Fatal Starlings

When a Lockheed Electra plunged 62 persons to their death in Boston Harbor fortnight ago, Administrator Elwood R. Quesada of the Federal Aviation Agency pointed the finger of blame at the flocks of starlings that populate the runway areas of Boston's Logan International Airport. Last week investigators found preliminary proof to indict the starlings, indicated that a flock of 10,000 to 20,000 starlings slammed into the Electra 25 seconds after it left the ground.

The plane's four Allison turboprop engines were recovered from the water, shipped to General Motors' Allison division in Indianapolis. There, Civil Aeronautics Board crash detectives began taking them apart piece by piece. They found evidence that the No. 1 or outboard engine on the left wing had been shut down and feathered by the pilot, indicating that he was coping with an emergency. CAB believes that the three other engines were delivering power, or at least some measure of power, when the plane crashed.

In the compressor chamber of the No. 1 engine, investigators found what they were looking for: bits of flesh and feathers from starlings. Starling remains were also found in the No. 2 engine; the innards of No. 3 and No. 4 had not yet been examined. But flesh-eating crabs were found in the nacelles of all four engines, suggesting that they had been scavenging starling remains.

Tests in the past have shown that birds drawn into Allison engines through the 2-ft.-wide air scoops cause flameouts about 50% of the time--a danger that experts believe is also shared by the pure jets. Said Quesada: "There is absolutely no evidence that the Boston accident was in any way whatsoever associated with the type of structural failure that caused two previous Electra crashes. Any airplane encountering a massive flock of birds at low altitude, when its air speed is critical, is going to have trouble."

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