Francis McAdams, Ex-Safety Official, Dies

WASHINGTON — Francis McAdams, a charter member of the National Transportation Safety Board, died Wednesday of an apparent heart attack shortly after jogging.

McAdams, 69, had been an air safety adviser to the Air Transport Assn., which represents the major airlines, since he left the NTSB in December, 1983.

McAdams was named to the NTSB, which investigates air and other transportation accidents, by President Lyndon B. Johnson in April, 1967.

Over the years, he filed more dissents than any other board member, NTSB officials recalled. At least one dissent, involving the midair collision of a Pacific Southwest Airlines jet and a private plane over San Diego in 1978 with a loss of 144 lives, was subsequently adopted by the board in 1982.

The board originally blamed the PSA crew for not keeping visual separation between aircraft and telling air traffic controllers when the smaller plane was no longer in sight. McAdams argued that blame should have gone to procedures that allowed controllers to use visual sightings, when they have radar available.