Word: 747s
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Wednesday the swarm of El Al workers at the airport had swelled to 1,000, most of whom brought along their wives and children. The families lay down on the runways in an effort to stop the flights of other airlines. When El Al pilots parked two Boeing 747s and one 707 on the main runway, the airport was forced to shut down for nearly 24 hours. Because there were women and children among the protesters, the government ordered the police to go easy. Only seven workers were arrested, but six demonstrators and eight policemen were injured in scuffles...
...seen in decades, the issue of which plane was better often became obscured in partisan crossfire. The air war ended last week when the House, by a vote of 289 to 127, decided to spend $860 million to begin the purchase of 50 Lockheed C-5Bs rather than modified 747s...
...cost overruns and technical troubles. A design competition for a new carrier was won by McDonnell Douglas with a plane subsequently called the C-17. The Pentagon thus faced three options: to develop the C-17 (whose cost was never made public), to buy and convert new and used 747s for considerably less money (the new planes would cost $72 million each), or to build 50 of Lockheed's modernized C-5Bs (at a cost of $118 million each). Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger decided that the most sensible choice, both militarily and financially...
...response was to challenge the judgment of the Pentagon, with whom it had some $2.7 billion in contracts, ranging from the cruise missile to AWACS planes. After the Defense Department rejected the company's argument that it would be more efficient for the Air Force to buy remodeled 747s, troops of Boeing lobbyists marched on Capitol Hill armed with charts, glossy photos and lavish brochures. Meanwhile, Democratic Senator Henry Jackson of Washington, Boeing's home state, strenuously campaigned for the company, asserting that the purchase of 747s "would assist the troubled airline industry...
...excessive production, drooping consumption, world recession with fears of depression. Even Humorist Art Buchwald was having fun with OPEC's woes. The columnist "quotes" a man from Qatar as saying: "Since the oil glut we've had to cancel four palaces, and make do with three used 747s for our sheiks...