Two women in the Detroit, Mich., neighborhood heard the plane crash into a school playground, saw the pilot alive in the wreckage, then witnessed the pot thefts. Investigators think the flight originated south of the border, but they aren't sure if the 408 pounds of smokeable merchandise inside was bound for the U.S. or Canada. Last week, U.S. carriers started playing footsie with plans of alliances and allegiances. The nation's six largest airlines are currently in different stages of making music together. AA and US Airways are working on a deal, as are United and Delta, though the Delta pilots' union is raising a stink which has stalled that for the moment.
Most industry analysts expect fares to increase as a result.
Congresscritters, many of them from places like Des Moines and Rochester where there are no cheap fares, are leaning in favor of laws aimed at putting a stop to price-gouging. Congress is currently considering a number of ways to rein the airlines in. Cessna's business jet division is seeing plenty of blue skies and green cash, no doubt in part the result of the games airlines play. A pilot who had just gotten a job with small package delivery service AirNet Systems has died in the aftermath of a crash at Port Columbus, Ohio. Gunzburg had diverted after his destination, Farmingdale, N.Y., went below minimums.