With stronger tires, armor-plated wiring and redesigned fuel tanks, the Concorde, the world's only supersonic jetliner, resumed passenger service today for the first time since an Air France Concorde crashed in a ball of flames on the outskirts of this city 15 months ago.
| Updated "Flight," Robert Zemeckis's story of a troubled pilot (Denzel Washington) who safely crash-lands a jetliner, only to be taken down by his own addictions, has several memorable scenes.
Though the earnings release made mention of the small jetliner only in terms of how many it delivered last quarter 866, versus 91 in the year-earlier period), on a conference call with analysts McNerney said Boeing will soon make a decision on whether or not to boost production of the 737 from the 31 per month it currently produces.
Still, it seemed likely to revive questions about airport security, not only for passenger jetliners but also for small, general aviation aircraft.
In the three months since 19 men unobtrusively boarded four commercial jetliners only to reveal themselves as terrorists, most travelers said they had become hyper-aware of those around them.
But the accounts of law enforcement officials indicate that in the days before the Sept. 11 attack, analysts at both the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. were advised of the suspicious activities of an immigrant linked to Muslim extremism who wanted to fly a large commercial jetliner, but whose interest seemed limited only to steering the plane in flight.
Colonel Williams would not discuss the subject today, but a spokeswoman said the training scenario envisioned that a falling jetliner would hit only one igloo and release its plume of gas.
Since 1952, there have been 22 commercial jetliners, of which only 2 (Boeing's 707 and 727) are so far believed to have made any money.
Airbus and Boeing are the only remaining Western makers of jetliners, and Boeing remains larger, with 68,000 employees after its announced cutbacks; Airbus expects to employ 44,500 people at the end of 2002, according to Gustav Humbert, its chief operating officer.
On Dec. 25, 2009, a Nigerian militant trained by the Qaeda branch in Yemen, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, ignited explosives hidden in his underwear aboard a jetliner headed for Detroit, but burned only himself.
