Air Traffic Controllers

Recently in the news, there has been a lot of talk about air traffic controllers not doing their jobs properly.  There have been reports of them falling asleep on the job, as well as watching movies while they are supposed to be working.  First Lady Michelle Obama was on one of these flights, and her plane had to abort its landing and circle around to make a landing.  A different air traffic controller was fired for bringing a cot and pillow to work.  Are the air traffic controllers to blame, or is it their schedulers?  Are they working too many hours?  How should we fix this problem?

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hN6G3VSNGwaHMCVV0binfO-M-hew?docId=CNG.9ea60fb38cd63202043ecd72699f62f9.271

I think the air traffic controllers should take most of the blame; however, there obviously is a problem if so many of them have been exhausted and falling asleep on the job.  They must be working too many hours; much more than they can handle.  I think the problem can be fixed by scheduling either shorter shifts or less shifts in a row.

Royal Wedding

In the midst of Prince William's engagement to Kate Middleton, a lot of press has been involved in the details of the wedding.  While the couple will obviously be important to the world soon, as the prince will become king of England someday, some say too much press and coverage is being put on the couple.  Along with that, the couple and their families do not get privacy.  The Royal Family is used to this, but Kate's family is not happy with the idea of paparazzi following them around.  Is coverage of William and Kate a bit excessive and redundant?  Should the paparazzi lay off Kate's family?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/04/08/earlyshow/leisure/celebspot/main20052072.shtml

I think all the coverage of Kate and William is way too excessive.  Who cares how many inches away from the edge of the table the centerpieces are? It is ridiculous how much press is going into this wedding.  Also, I do not think it is fair to drag Kate's family into this.  Photographers followed her mom and sister around while they were on a shopping trip.  It is ridiculous.

Southwest Plane Crack Turns Into Hole

Friday, April 1, 2011, marked a scary day for the 118 passengers on Southwest airlines flight 812 leaving Phoenix.  Not even 20 minutes into the flight, a massive five foot hole opened in the cabin.  The pilot made an emergency landing and everyone walked away unharmed.  However, with the incident came more inspections for Southwest, which turned up many of the same kind of crack that caused the hole in the first place.  With these defects being found, the question is: Should Southwest airlines postpone all flights until they can get this straightened out? And also, should this extend to all airlines?

http://abcnews.go.com/US/government-order-emergency-inspections-737-jets-southwest-airlines/story?id=13300089

I think Southwest needs to cancel all flights until every plane is checked.  This could have happened way higher in the air, and that would have caused a lot more problems.  I obviously do not think every airline should be shut down, but I do think that every airline needs to check every plane because I think a lot of airlines probably have the same kind of crack.