Noticed how many planes (read Airbus) are “going down” recently?

Between the Michael Jackson slimy dirge.

You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

For starters read this:

Turnover in airport towers and at regional radar facilities and flight service centers is so rapid that experienced controllers are leaving faster than their replacements can be hired and certified. That means controllers still in training are often guiding planes on takeoff, in the air and on landing.

Meanwhile, a satellite-based air traffic management system, designed to automate more efficient flight paths, remains years off, even as current facilities are reaching and surpassing their expected useful lifespans.

Then all airlines are asking their employees to work for nothing. That’s a confidence booster if ever there was one.

We all know what they do to our Big Macs at McDonald’s when they don’t get paid. Or even when they do – get paid.

Finally – for today – Tony Tyler CEO of Cathay Pacific – arguably one of the world’s best airlines – says US airports are so outmoded and in such a state of chaos they are years behind the rest of the world. “I wouldn’t like to be managing any US airline these days,” said Tyler.

And he wasn’t talking about “in flight” service.