AEROSPACE

McDonnell Repays Air Force for Overpriced Parts: McDonnell Douglas Corp. paid $182,000 after a government audit found the St. Louis-based defense contractor had sharply increased its prices on spare parts for the C-17 transport plane. In one instance, a door hook a subcontractor had produced for $389 was later made by McDonnell Douglas and priced at $8,842, the audit by the General Accounting Office found. The GAO, an investigative arm of Congress, said prices for spare parts shot up in 1991 and ’92 when McDonnell Douglas, concerned about meeting production deadlines, took over manufacture of some parts that had been subcontracted out. The GAO said the impact on taxpayers may have been far greater. A McDonnell Douglas spokesman said the GAO cited unrealistically low initial prices that made the later price increases seem excessive.