European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 31, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 the stars and stripes March daily Magazine file photo Goodrich is claiming its not responsible for an Attenuator bag problem on the air Force f111a How the military deals with faulty products Byj Efferth new York times Earnest Coleman promising career ended at on the morning of when he ejected from his out icon tool air Force f111a Jet Over an Idaho wheat the bag intended to Cushion him from the Impact of Landing failed to and Coleman suffered Paralez ing a study conducted for the air Force that year concluded that the failure of the an Attenuator stemmed from defects in its manufacture by the Goodrich which has denied any culpability in the says there have been no other reports of after the the air Force replaced the bags in ejection capsules on the f111 Fleet with bags of a new also made by the air Force chop Goodrich for the million contract because it was the Only company that could meet the Accord ing to air Force Coleman Accident has become the subject of a lawsuit against Goodrich and it has also set off a broader debate in Congress and the air Force about How the military deals with faulty some critics contend that granting a second contract to Goodrich to replace the bags amounts to rewarding the company for poor More they also question whether noncom Petiti contracts raise the costs for the military at the same time they raise the profits of John inquired into the mat Ter after a complaint by a former Goodrich employee and prodded the air Force to seek Goodrich produced a bag that didst Kasich said in an they have a moral if not Legal obligation to refund that Money to the Kasich is a member of the investigations subcommittee of the House armed serv ices which will hold hearings this year on Quality control in military including the Attenuator Kasich said he about the extent to which Quality control problems and contracts awarded without Competition had Contil felted pc quite in the Case of the faulty ejection capsule Cushion extra procurement costs Over the last four the air in a letter 19 to said it would now seek to recover from Goodrich those costs associated with the replacement of the Jon general counsel to said in reply to questions about the incident that the event in question is one we know of where there has Only been partial deployment of an Attenuator Heider said the subsequent air Force contracts awarded to including a research contract to develop a new generation of should be Strong evidence that the air Force has Confidence in our ability to produce their including Confidence that we have an adequate Quality control Foster director of corporate communications for said the company had not discussed a possible refund with air Force James Coleman this is a classic example of How a company profits by its he said this would be a theme i will use in the who has litigated similar cases involving military also said the pentagons contracting regulations and practices made it difficult to insure manufacturing accountability and Congress passed legislation in 1983 requiring weapon manufacturers to provide performance but the Pentagon can Grant waivers in cases where warranties would be too costly or would harm the National the Law has come under criticism from contractors and Pentagon officials who say it is too other like say the Law is not Tough shortly after the 1982 the air Force hired Arthur the management consulting to investigate the failed their study concluded that the f111 bags failure stemmed from defects formed Dur ing bag the air Force study came after an investigation by Goodrich concluding that a specific cause of the bags failure could not be according to a letter from the air Force to the Goodrich Stupy did that flaws in the original rubber fabric of the bag the same defects found by Arthur Little were a Likely uting according to a letter written by a fewer for in the course of pursuing Coleman Mccar thy discovered that the inspection records for the failed bag were Goodrich officials testified in the Law suit that the records had been misplaced in a move in where the bags were other testimony in the raised questions about the missing inspection an air Force in Bobby testified that this was the Only lot of records that disappeared out of All the years of making Impact Thomas a former manager of Quality Assur Ance for testified in a deposition last year that a Goodrich Quality Assurance official at the West Virginia told him March that Hammonds had been approached to produce or falsify travel cards for that particular bag in in a notarized statement sent to a reporter by said he remembered a comment or two to the effect that missing inspection or travel records could be but that the comments were in in his Beshers was critical of qual Ity control procedures on a number of safety related products manufactured by Goodrich for civilian and military including emergency life de tires and Robert vice president and general manager of Goodrich aerospace and defense we Are confident that our products Are Safe and that they meet All government and customer last year Beshers went to Kasich to talk about the Attenuator bag and other Goodrich Kasich began communicating with air Force Secretary Verne Orr on the f111 matter and also asked the Federal aviation administration and other government Agen cies to look into other complaints by the other inquiries Are the air Force told Kasich in february that the noncom contract for the new bags resulted because Good Rich was the Only manufacturer qualified to produce the Impact bag and that qualification of a new manufacturer would have Cost an additional the air Force also said Quality control problems at Goodrich ended after the air Force added several new inspection requirements and made it mandatory for government inspectors to Monitor All production the Case of Coleman is scheduled for trial in april in District court in