I don't have an official answer, but if I may speculate:

The airplane hit with enough force to pulverize the entire aircraft structure. I don't see a wing or wheel or anything recognizable in the post-crash video. I imagine there wasn't a big spill or puddle of fuel, there was just a cloud of fuel vapor that burst from the debris and floated away.

Also, judging by the weather conditions in the videos (also notice how the race flags were horizontal and wind noise chokes out the announcer in the audio) the cloud would have dissapated in seconds.

Assuming there was nobody smoking when the tanks first disintigrated, and no severed electrical wiring (lights, sound system) in the impact zone, there would be no source for ignition.

Does anybody know where in the PWA it outlines how we get paid for at home study such as CQ and other training CD's? I can't find it anywhere. I'm assuming it's some kind of percentage of the length of the training CD.

***EDIT: Found the info. 1 minute of pay for 3 minutes of CD run time. Page 11-8 of the PWA.

No problem. We found a Delta flight to Munich this past summer (after searching through pages and pages of AF/KLM connections through CDG and AMS). The passes work great once you find a route actually flown with DAL metal.

Well it took me 18 hours to run that CD because I was surfing another window for underboob, so...

Delta's course concerns me. As it shrinks, costs will increase & revenue base decrease. As costs increase, it will wish to outsource. While saying we are in "Comair mode" is an exaggeration, the pattern is the same. In the second quarter comparison, Delta's non fuel cost per seat mile was up nearly 5%, compared to the next highest 3% at United. Airlines that aren't shrinking are keeping their non fuel CASM increase below 1%.

Also, as we shrink we cede market to our competitors.

History shows, airlines do not shrink to profitability. Bastian told investors our early retirements and other measures will help reduce costs to 2010 levels. I'll go on record now and state, I doubt that will happen.

Well - I agree. Retirements only replace the B744 captain being paid at 12 year rates with a A330 Captain who will be paid 12 year rates. Without hiring new people, eventually everyone is at 12 year rates.

Great post Bar!

Whats worse, we have for better or for worse hitched our careers to a seniority based system.

Seniority determines pay
Seniority determines base
Seniority determines days-off
Seniority determines vacation
Seniority determines seat
Seniority determines equipment
Seniority determines furlough
Seniority determines recall

In short seniority pretty much determines the trajectory of an entire pilot career.

Unless you are #1, seniority is relative.

#10 out of 10 and you are the plug
#10 out of 100 and you're still reserve
#10 out of 1000 and you are doing good
#10 out of 10,000 and the world is your oyster ;-)

When we stop growing, every pilot on the list takes a hit in relative seniority.
Watching an airline with 1000 pilots hire 250 would require 2500 hires to achieve the same seniority gains at an airline with 10,000 pilots.

Which airline do we work for?

Cheers
George

FC, I'm on a trip but I'll shoot you some info when I get home.

Buzz

Shrink to merge?