The Region - News from July 21, 1985
A tire blow-out may have caused the fire that destroyed a NASA jet after an aborted takeoff last week from March Air Force Base, 60 bmiles east of Los Angeles. Gordon Hardy, the aircraft’s commander, said the blowout shattered the right wheel and sent a chunk of metal flying into the fuel tank. The accident occurred as the Convair 990 was starting to take off for a flight over the Pacific Ocean to watch a man-made comet. Nineteen crew members and scientists escaped uninjured.
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