Word: skies
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...restaurant had been reserved. It would be, predicted Howard Puig, assistant manager of the hotel's disco, "the night of the year." On the mezzanine, gamblers were already crowding into the posh casino. Through the large picture windows they could see the pounding surf and a clear blue afternoon sky that seemed to bode well. As bettors hunched forward for yet another round of blackjack and croupiers gave the roulette wheels an added spin, there came a whisper: "Smoke." Nobody paid any attention...
...close calls in the sky are by far the most worrisome trend in the nation's overburdened, understaffed air-safety system. The chilling reality of what can happen when luck turns sour was illustrated last Aug. 31 over Cerritos, Calif., when an Aeromexico DC-9 and a private Piper aircraft collided in the congested "birdcage" of controlled airspace around Los Angeles International Airport, killing 82 people. Many aviation experts like Duffy fear that what is still one of the safest air-transportation systems in the world is slipping dangerously as air traffic grows relentlessly through the unfettered competition of deregulation...
...fuel costs have gone down and delays have increased, however, the airlines are pushing to get their planes aloft closer to schedule. They want more departure and arrival routes established so that more of the sky space is utilized. They would also like to reduce the 15-mile minimum spacing between following airliners so that more traffic can be moved in the same time. Planes heading toward a landing at 220 m.p.h. thus are about four minutes apart...
There are indications that some controllers may be cheating the snitch system to avoid the burden of paperwork and explanations. The FAA investigated a near miss on Feb. 16 between a Sky West Airlines flight and a private Beech Bonanza near Santa Barbara, Calif. The planes had come within five miles, but the snitch was not triggered. The investigators discovered that a controller had dropped the Bonanza from his screen in the belief that there was no real chance of a collision despite the proximity of the two aircraft. This action, reported the FAA, "disabled the computer's ability...
...battle in the sky. It was unbelievable." So said Jordanian Businessman Salim Dado after surviving a terrifying ordeal aboard an Iraqi jetliner on Christmas Day. According to officials in Saudi Arabia, where the plane subsequently crashed, 62 of the 107 passengers and crew members on the stricken craft were not so lucky: they died in the crash, and about 20 others were injured, in one of the worst hijacking disasters on record...