MD-82 Broke Up On Landing

An MD-82 operated by Indonesia's Lion Air skidded off the runway in a heavy rainstorm Tuesday, breaking apart and leaving at least 31 people dead.

By Captain John S. Blonsick Ironic that in the summer of 2001, the Bush Administration declared that the airlines were too vital to the national economy to allow even one major airline to engage in a strike under the Railway Labor Act. But now two major carriers are in bankruptcy facing possible Chapter 7 liquidation, two others are hovering on the brink of Chapter 11 and there is almost no governmental action to troubleshoot this vital national economic engine. Ticket prices are being set by start-up carriers with little or no investment or overhead in the aviation infrastructure while the majors with 70 years of investment and overhead of mature companies are being left to the cut themselves to the bone. Meanwhile, Federal taxes and skyrocketing fuel prices are destroying an

Legendary motor-racing champion growing second airline

While the anglosphere wasn't looking, racing legend Niki Lauda founded a new budget airline, "Niki," flying from his homeland of Austria to other European destinations, and it finally got our attention when he flew it into London last month.

AD NUMBER: 2004-24-06 MANUFACTURER: SAAB SUBJECT: Airworthiness Directive 2004-24-06 SUMMARY: This amendment adopts a new airworthiness directive (AD), applicable to certain Saab Model SAAB SF340A and SAAB 340B series airplanes.