frye and hughes had a falling out in 1947. hughes' financial advisor noah dietrich wrote that "frye's inept handling of costs, his inefficient operations, his extravagance with new purchases of equipment-all these factors combined to nosedive the twa stock from 71 at the war's end to 9 in 1947." the airline was losing $20,000,000 a year, was in danger of not being able to acquire fuel for its planes due to being deeply indebted to oil companies, and the pilot's union went on strike.