Thursday December 14, 2000

Airplane Report by Peter Greenberg

Top 3 Airlines on Safety:

Southwest only flies one kind of plane, the 737, and knows it inside out. great safety record.

Midwest Express also does a great job. this milwaukee-based airline again only operates dc-9s and md-80 series planes (extended version of dc-9's) does its own maintenance and does an excellent job.

United Airlines also does a reasonably good job of maintenance.

As opposed to picking a top five, it is more important to embrace the philosophy: fly on airlines (if at all possible) that are based in your departure city, or airlines that have reconfigured their schedules to fly point to point turnaround flights, not cycle flights. (example: if American flies its flight from Miami to Chicago and turns the plane in Chicago and flies back to Miami, you have a better chance, weather notwithstanding, of fewer delays. But if the airline flies Miami to Chicago to Dallas to Los Angeles to New York, the folks in Los Angeles waiting to go to New York may be in big trouble. Always ask the itinerary for both your flight number, as well as the aircraft number assigned to your flight, then book accordingly.

Best Airports (best operated, fewest delays)

Best Airports (best operated, fewest delays)

Tampa -- long runways, few weather delays

Orlando -- same deal

Kansas City -- underutilized, and very easy connections and baggage claim Salt Lake City -- great on time performances here and snow crews really know snow -- airport has hardly ever closed

Worst Airports

La Guardia, Atlanta, and Dallas are all operating beyond their capacity to handle the number of flights at peak times, and that's not considering weather!

Worst Airports for Safety

Washington Reagan & Burbank - runways are too short for the aircraft approved to land there.

San Diego - the approach is too steep.

Weather notwithstanding:

Midway instead of O'Hare, Providence instead of Boston, Oakland instead of San Francisco: less traffic, less congestion, and less chance of a delay.

Here's what's lacking in the arena of airport safety:

1.Doppler Weather Radar. At most U.S. airports (remember the American accident last year when the md-80 crashed in high winds?) It's amazing how few airports have technology that is readily available to them. Question: who wants to pay for it?

2. De-Icing. This is one of the bigger jokes in terms of systems and design. At some european airports, they've solved the problem. At both ends of runways, there are deicing stations. Right before takeoff, planes go through these areas, much like a car wash. But in the U.S., de-icing is hit/miss. It is done at the gates. Then what happens? Ground delays. Ice builds up, and if not properly monitored, whatever preventive work was done at the gate is destroyed by time and elements.