Catch PBS Frontline tonight:' Flying Cheap'

I’ve wondered lately what colleague and friend, Miles O’Brien, formerly CNN’s aviation and space reporter, was doing these days. Tonight I get to watch the payoff: ‘Flying Cheap’. Believe me, in this airline family, we’ll be glued to the show.

Watch this excerpt:

Well done, buddy!

Captain Ryan sends his kudos.

It’s a story that needed to be told for a very long time, by someone like Miles with a deep understanding of aviation and the industry. Miles is a third generation private pilot of considerable experience. I’ve flown with him, and I’ve flown with a lot of professional pilots. Miles is good. Very good. My point: he has the chops to tell this story, with all the depth of understanding and nuance that it requires.

Here’s some more information from the PBS Frontline site:

PRESS RELEASE

FRONTLINE INVESTIGATES SAFETY PROBLEMS OF MAJOR AIRLINES OUTSOURCING FLIGHTS TO SMALLER REGIONAL CARRIERS

FRONTLINE Presents
Flying Cheap
Tuesday, February 9, 2010, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS

http://www.pbs.org/frontline/flyingcheap/

Last February, Continental Flight 3407 crashed outside of Buffalo, N.Y., killing 49 people onboard and one on the ground.

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Don't bet your life on that GPS you got for Christmas

I’m talking about the nimrods on the local news this week that managed to get lost in the woods for days - with the help of their GPS. They’re seriously lucky to be alive. I remember actually being out looking for another family from Oregon some years back that nearly lost their lives.

Uh, here’s a thought: just because your cute little dash mounted gizmo tells you that following a certain road will be faster, it might not be safer or even passable.

This last week, two different families thought GPS was a sure thing and followed it right into snow drifts that trapped them for a couple of days until search crews and others were able to find them. The first clue might have been fresh, deep snow without tire tracks other than yours.

It’s time to use some common sense with these technological wonders.

Maven with fellow CAP pilot, Russ Johnson 

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No Lemmings were hurt in this segment

Thanks a lot, Miles. I saw the film of those poor fuzzy wuzzies going off the cliff into the sea and wondered just where in the heck you got that!

But it begs the question: Am I a Lemming, too? Are most of us Lemmings now and then, succumbing to the ‘herd instinct’? Nobody likes to believe that’s even a remote possibility - it brings to mind some disturbing images ( like vermin-ridden rodents mindlessly following the leader to disaster).

The following CNN report by Miles O’Brien shows us that there are, indeed, some psychological nuances to the current economic crisis that we can all take some responsibility for.

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