Page 118 - MY STORY

He then asked, “Well, if you don’t know Don, how about

Charlie?” Our response, “You don’t mean Charles Able,
our president, do you?” He indicated that was exactly
who he meant, and our response was no different than the

“Don” inquiry.

He then had the temerity to ask when we might have the

results of our analysis for his review. We pointed out that
we would first, like to know more about the history of the
broken steel chunks, and second, we would have to get

some kind of management approval to expend the hours
needed to conduct the analysis. Sid understood and left,

but the tantalizing rusted steel parts stayed on the table in
our lab.

I don’t remember all the details, but we sent inquiries to

Douglas management about Sid and found that he, indeed,
knew Donald Douglas and Charlie Able quite well.

Apparently many years earlier, as a member of the
accident investigation arm of the Civil Aeronautics Board
(CAB), now NTSB, Sid investigated the crash of an early

DC-6 that killed everyone on board. Apparently, the
company was being sued by the heirs claiming a faulty
design, and Sid, the lead government accident

investigator, had found it to be purely pilot error, saving