Well, here is a headline which should make your blood run cold, your blood pressure rise, and your temper flair. The February 2, USA Today headline printed partly in big red numbers showed: “Since 2003, 65,000 US flights with maintenance problems have taken off anyway.”

NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting system allows airline employees to report incidents of maintenance problems confidentially without out mentioning their airline or the flight. Are you angry yet?

Turn to page 2, and USA Today tells us that: “Airlines contract about 70% of their maintenance work to repair shops in US and abroad where mistakes can be made by untrained and ill-equipped personnel, the Department of Transportation Inspector General says.” US airlines save money by contracting out airline maintenance to some foreign country’s lower paid poorly trained workers who may not be able to follow the repair kit instructions. Are you getting more upset? Have you asked to what country you are talking when you try to make an airline reservation? I have been able to practice my Sanskrit and Tagalog talking to airline contractors from India and the Philippines. Are airline executives saying this is work American workers won’t do. Fair is foul and foul is fair in this industry.