Six Million Dollar Man - Was Steve Austin's plane sabotaged [View all]

Watching the pilot episodes of this series on Peacock. Does it seem like the Darren McGavin character Spencer plotted to create "product" for his plan to make cyborgs. He got lucky in his first go with Austin surviving the crash - if he hadn't would he have tried again?

Not sure if that theme was ever explored in the rest of the series. The timeline as it is shown in the pilot sure makes you wonder.