Word: plane
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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When Oliver North wanted to get something done quickly, secretly and with a minimum of fuss, he called his friend Richard Secord. In November 1985 Secord came to the rescue of frazzled White House officials by deftly diverting a plane that was scheduled for a weapons shipment to the contras to help transport arms to Iran. As North later wrote admiringly to Admiral John Poindexter, "Why Dick can do something in five minutes that the CIA cannot do in two days is beyond me -- but he does." Another time North wrote, "a man of many talents ol' Secord...
...fighter pilot in Viet Nam, he was attached to a CIA force in Thailand to supervise flights for the agency's secret Laotian war. In 1975 he was stationed as a military attache in Iran and helped guide the Shah in spending billions of dollars on a 500-plane air force. In Tehran, he met his future partner Albert Hakim, who was then engineering the sale of sophisticated electronic equipment to the Shah's secret police...
...A320. This technologically advanced short- to medium-range (up to 3,500 miles) jet, unveiled in February, will carry as many as 150 passengers. The world's airlines, including two American carriers, have made commitments to buy about 440 of the A320s, making it the fastest-selling new plane in aviation history. Moreover, Airbus is already taking orders for the A330 and the A340, two larger intercontinental planes that are only on the drawing board. To the astonishment of Boeing and McDonnell Douglas, Minneapolis-based Northwest Airlines placed a giant $2.5 billion order for up to 30 of the A330...
...commercial takeoff. The first models, which are now being assembled at the Toulouse production facilities of Aerospatiale, the French state-owned aircraft company, should be delivered by next spring. The A320's most impressive claim: the first fully computerized flight-control system. Among other things, the equipment prevents the plane from stalling or exceeding speed limits...
...diplomats negotiate, Boeing and McDonnell Douglas executives are peddling their planes more aggressively than in the past. Says Dean Thornton, president of Boeing's commercial-plane division: "We used to sell 727s like you sell Mercedes. This one's nice and there's the price on the window, take it or leave it. But times have changed." Now both American aircraftmakers offer better service, supply spare parts in advance and guarantee maintenance costs...