"Biggest balls" award at Oshkosh, or, Do I Just Lack Ambition?

"Kevin O'Brien" kevin@org-header-is-my-domain-name wrote

reminded me of a
1970s project, the "MIZAR" or "MITZAR" (q.v. via Google). It was a
Pinto (!) attached to the wings, struts, tail feathers and rear engine
of a Cessna 337 Skymaster. It actually flew for about 15 hours.

Then the sheet metal screws (!) holding it together came out. It would
be funny if two people hadn't perished when they hit something big --
California, to be specific.

I don't understand one thing, about the flying Pinto.

Why, or how, did some FAA inspector sign that thing off as airworthy? It
should have seemed quite obvious that the quality of the construction was in
no way up to aircraft construction standards, right?

It should have been criminal, if it wasn't.
--
Jim in NC