Flying Anxieties

I found an interesting bit of information as I was perusing archives from the AP (Associated Press) wire:
"More than half of U.S. commercial airports have runways that don't have a 1,000-foot margin at the end, an overrun area the federal government says is needed as a safety zone, according to a new report.
Some of the busiest airports in the country -- including Los Angeles International Airport, Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport -- have more than one runway that doesn't meet safety standards, according to the Federal Aviation Administration."

The FAA says it is diligently upgrading runways. The agency expects that all of them will meet the standard by 2015, when they are legally required to do so, according to FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown.

But at 325 airports -- more than half of the 573 commercial airports in the United States -- at least one runway lacks the 1,000-foot safety zone, according to the FAA's figures. Almost half of all commercial runways -- 507 of 1,017 -- don't meet the standard.

I'm taking four airplane flights in the near future, with FOUR take-offs and landings from Atlanta, one of the afore-mentioned runways in need of adjusting.

(Just remember the good things I've done and sweep the rest under the ping pong table please.

OH, one additional concern:
CNN reported that an airplane had an un-scheduled stop to investigate a "security concern". 99 passengers and crew members were forced to de-plane. The problem? Someone had smelled sulfer, as in a struck match. Apparently a woman had passed gas and wanted to disguise the offending odor and instead, she got booted off the plane.

No beans for me prior to my flight departures!