Heyas,

You guys are begging for the kind of attention you DON'T want.

The Colgan accident (RIP) is an example of something bad, that could be made MUCH worse by slightly different circumstances. Something like this is horrific for the people involved, but the reverberations can be endless, and can turn into an industry nightmare by just the wrong kind of media attention.

Let's say Trans Terran Express is running late one day. The crew is at the maximum FAA duty day. Weather is iffy. Crew is qualified, but relatively inexperienced. Also, one the passengers is Fatty McFatfat, a VERY popular politician, who happens to be flying TTE today because he's keeping a low profile after the bank bailouts and is trying to be an "everyman", and flying corporate looks bad at the moment.

Something happens on approach to East Butthole Regional Airport, and the Bugsmasher 2000 goes down into a crowded Cravemart, with many deaths and x10 injuries. Press picks up on it, and terrible pictures of the Trans Terran logo on the one remaining piece of the aircraft amongst the ruin of the Cravemart is run, and re-run 24 hours a day for days on end.

Because McFatfat is a VERY popular guy, our earnest reporters from the always accurate media run with the story and come to the conclusion that "HEY, JUST BECAUSE YOU BUY A TICKET ON TRANS TERRAN, THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU RIDE ON TRANS TERRAN, EVEN THOUGH THE LOGO IS THE SAME AND CARRIERS A TG CODE!!!". Now the wild accusations start, and the rectal exam/cavity search of the entire industry, as well as the whole concept of codesharing begins.

Lots of dirty linen comes to light. Borderline scheduling practices (min rest, max duty days, reduced rest overnights, etc etc), questionable hiring practices, iffy maintenence and training, and, of course, the crappy pay. It doesn't help that TTEs CEO is under investigation by the SEC for possible securities fraud. The malestrom of accusations rock back and forth, multiplying upon themselves. Because McFatfat was really popular, his buds in congress bring the whole idea of codeshareing before a congressional committee for "truth in advertising" (seeing as Trans Terran itself has a relatively decent record).

But because times are tough, a few LCCs, who don't do any codesharing, figure out which way the wind is blowing, and start advertising that "if you buy a ticket on Big Tail Airways , you always fly on Big Tail Airways (who's motto has been "fly us, and get a piece of tail!"). Because of the media frenzy, the other airlines see a huge amount of booking away from the carriers, because the public DOESN'T KNOW or DOESN'T CARE to figure out who is flying what. They just want to be told "NOPE, WE DON'T FLY BUGSMASHERS".

Now the Greek Tragedy that has been the "regional industry" comes crashing down. Petrified of further PR blunders, the major carriers reign in codeshares. Congress passes legislation barring the use of one airline's code on another and using "deceptive marketing practices", such as similar aircraft liveries. The FAA (minus the ex-administrator, who "took one for the team" for making the President look bad), fresh from it's media cornholing, rewrites FAR 121 to require BOTH pilots to have ATP certificates. In two years, the only "regional" airlines left are those in nitch markets...island hopping or EAS.

You may cry "ahh, Nu, you are full of it...those facts aren't anywhere near accurate. This can't happen." But I remind you, once the press gets a hold of a "story" or a "angle", it won't matter what the causal factors of the original accident were. I point you to the Everglades Valujet accident, whose circumstances had NOTHING TO DO with the crew.

Nu