We seem to have slain the Social Security Dragon for a while - (see http://www.wednesday-night.com/SocialSecurity.asp's session with Drs Mark Roper and Sharon Johnston taught us a lot about why we are losing the best and brightest young doctors, but so far we do not seem to have influenced the Quebec government . THIS WEEK One of our favorite topics - Aviation - is in the news. Everyone has a favorite airline/aviation/aerospace story, and the topic links to so many other favorite Wednesday Night topics, like oil prices and the environment. So do come armed with your own contribution. There's the Bombardier/Mirabel story: It's reported that Bombardier Aerospace is one step closer to building its new C-series of passenger jets in Quebec with the machinists' 91.4% vote on Sunday in support of a new contract that grants the major concessions Bombardier sought. Boeing is going through some heavy weather - it has sacked Chief Executive Harry Stonecipher who had an affair with a female executive. Apparently this not only broke company rules, but "impaired his leadership abilities". Incidentally, she did not report to him directly and she will remain with the company. We like the spokesman's comment that "the code of conduct did not explicitly prohibit affairs between employees", but that [the affair] would "impair his ability to lead going forward" - we do like our leaders to do so going forward. Meantime, several Air Transat Airbuses were temporarily grounded Sunday after a plane flying from Cuba to Quebec City experienced mechanical difficulty about 30 minutes into the flight and had to return to Cuba. A spokesperson for the airline said the plane's rudder "partially fell off." [What is it about these spokesmen?] Speaking of airline safety, IATA announced that airlines recorded their safest year in 2004, with 428 people killed out of the 1.8 billion passengers who flew. The New York Times carries a story on RFID tags for airline passenger luggage that would identify and track items with a precision unmatched by today's bar code scanning systems, but concludes somewhat wistfully that, while the new technology is said to be ready for use, most major airlines are in such dire financial straits that "that kind of money could be as hard to come by as legroom in coach". No mention of baggage fatalities. And those dire straits won't be helped by Monday's news that the price of oil is heading for $54 US a barrel. It is reported that jittery airline executives, having already raised fares and cut flights, are now looking ahead to the possibility of $60-a-barrel oil. On the topic of lost luggage, imagine how much will be lost on the new Airbus A-380 flights... The International Herald Tribune carries an excellent piece on the problems facing airports with the arrival of the new super jumbos. And while Canadians worry about China buying Canadian natural resources, who noticed that Deutsche Bank AG, is offering to buy some of China Aviation Oil (Singapore) Corp.'s $530 million debt? China's dominant jet fuel importer faces at least three lawsuits after racking up $550 million in losses trading derivatives. Finally, aviation and the environment: ICAO has adopted new oxides of nitrogen (NOx) standards which are 12 per cent more stringent than the previous levels agreed to in 1999 and IATA is holding the Aviation & Environment Summit in Geneva 17-18 March to "debate current aviation and environment-related issues and to showcase the latest technologies". As it will be held on St. Patrick's Day, we presume it will be suitably green. [color=darkblue:a48024c7eb][/color]