Campaign to boost DC10

Press, 11 July 1980, Page 6

Campaign to boost DC10

NZPA-Reuter New York McDonnell Douglas has announced a multi-million dollar campaign to clear the reputation of their DCIO jetliner and named the former astronaut Charles “Pete” Conrad to act as company spokesman in television advertisements. The announcement came at a press conference in which the company was peppered with hostile questions about the reasons behind the campaign and whether the plane’s design contributed to the DCIO I

crash in May last year at Chicago which killed 275 people the worst domestic air disaster in American his; tory. A report by the National Transportation Safety Board said the cause of the crash, a crack that separated a pylon and engine from a wing, was caused by an improper maintenance procedure.

Sanford McDonnell, president of the company, said the campaign to clear the DClO’s name was necessary even though the plane “has been tested and researched

land examined as no other aircraft has ever been and as a result has been conclusively vindicated.” To counter the plane’s bad reputation the company said it was launching a new series of television and newspaper advertisements featuring Mr Conrad, a McDonnell Douglas vicepresident since 1978. The ads show Mr Conrad, the third man to set foot on the moon, saying: “The more you learn about our DCIO, the more you know how great it really is.”