Evening star., 1952-02-15
Two Elizabeth pickefs
March Outside Airline
Safely Conference
by III. A.soeiot..d Pres,

NEW YORK, Feb. 15.-Com
mercial airline operators met to-
day In an attempt to evolve /
plan Of safe operation Of aircraf
over heavily populated areas.
The Operators Committee, will
Capt. Edward v. Rickenbacker
president Of Eastern Air Lines, a.
chairman, was formed Tuesday
the day after the crash of a Ma.
tional Airlines plane at Elizabeth
N. j., which caused 80 deaths.
It was the third crash at Eliza.
beth in two months. The three
crashes took 118 lives.
Newark Airport, take-of fiele
Tor the Inflated plane, has beer
closed since the crash, and Eliza.
beth residents have demanded il
be closed permanently and the
f1eld located elsewhere.
Two Pickets Out.
Two Elizabeth residents picket.
ed the hotel where the committee
was in session. They identified
themselves as Murray Rothfeld
80, and Mrs. Beverly Schultz, q
Both carried signs and distrib-
uted leaflets for 1.-THE Elizabeth
Citizens Committee for Relocation
OF Newark Airport"
The leaflets charged the Port
OF New York Authority, operator
OF Newark Airport, and the air.
lines were guilty of brazen. dis
regard for decent public relations
when they announced expansion
OF facilities and the building of
q new airlines terminal imme-
diately after the disaster of Jan
uary 22."
"They Knocked us as we buried
our dead" the leatlet said.
Newark Airport can be opened
only over our dead bodies. If the
Port OF New York Authority is not
responsible to the State Legis.
lature or the courts, it must be
made responsible to the people. /"
Engine Failure Blamed.
Mr.. Rothfeld, temporary chair
man OF the committee, said all of
the committee members wanted to
picket the hotel today, but, be-
cause OF police regulations against
mass picketing, he and Mrs.
Schultz decided to stage the dem
onstration.
A combination of engine fail
ure and a rare propeller system
defect cause the National Airlines
crash. the Civil Aeronautics Board
indicated yesterday.
Joseph o. Fluet, chief CAB
regional investigator, said prelim-
mary findings showed the right
inboard propeller of the DC-6 was
reversed, a condition not normal
In fight.
In Washington the Civil Aero
nautics Administration ordered a
change in wiring connections of
all DC-6 transport planes.
The change consists of taking
the control wire for the reversible
propeller mechanism out of the
bundle OF wires leading to the
engines and putting it into a
separate conduit to eliminate any
possibility Of "shorting."
Given Until Monday.
A CAA spokesman said in Wash
lngton operators of the DC-6s and
Convair planes have been asked
to make the wiring check as al
precautionary measure, not later
than midnight, Monday, Feb
ruary 18.
Mr.. Fluet said the right out
board propeller of the crashed
plane was feathered, or turned
edge-on to the slipstream. This
Is done when an engine fails in
flight. in order to reduce the drag
OF the idle propeller.
This would indicate the out
board engine at least had failed,
MIR. Fluet limited to newsmen at
q news conference.
He said the reversal Of a pro-
peller in fight is extremely
Ordinarily, the pitch Of the
propellers is reversed to act as a
brake only when the plane is on
the ground making its landing
run.