[chipmunkninja]

While there is a lot of good information in this article, the tone is a bit too tabloid-sensationalist for my tastes.

"So while you are napping, eating or watching a movie on that flight to LAX, you should know the plane you are flying is cruising along at the ratty edge of its capabilities. Why? Money. The higher an airliner flies, the better gas mileage it gets."

Boo those big corporations for trying to pick optimal flight paths, save customers flight time, or otherwise make a buck (and who cares about all the environmentalists breathing down their necks about burning so much kerosene). How DARE they? Think of the children!!

The one thing common after all these crashes is the amount of looney speculation that goes on right after, and then we magically forget about it. Does anybody even remember the British Airways 777 from Beijing that landed short at Heathrow a couple of years back? The reason: entirely mundane - faulty fuel pump.