Pilots

SEATTLE -- When Kent Couch took off in his lawn chair last weekend and, hoisted by hundreds of balloons, pointed it toward Montana, he figured there was about a 90% chance he'd make it at least to Idaho. But that was before he and co-pilot Fareed Lafta ran into a terrifying series of thunderstorms that tossed them and their flimsy aluminum chairs around the sky like toys - and the two men focused mainly on how to safely reunite themselves with the ground. Scared? No time to be scared, the two men said in a telephone interview Wednesday from Bend, Ore., where Couch operates a gas station when he isn't piloting chairs.

The only inkling passengers had that something was wrong on the Continental Airlines flight over the Atlantic Ocean was when a crew member asked over the loudspeaker whether a doctor was on board. Otherwise, flight attendants continued to serve snacks. Passengers read magazines and watched movies. And the flight stayed on schedule. But in the cockpit, the 60-year-old captain had died of a suspected heart attack and two co-pilots took over the controls.

I am disappointed in Thomas Curwen's "Where Wings Meet the Wild" (Nov. 18). My husband, an experienced bush pilot for Arctic Circle Air and a non-drinker, was not in the story. Arctic Circle's reputation was tarnished. [Many] Alaskan bush pilots are ... respected family men. Janet Gray Bethel, Alaska

Delta Air Lines Inc.'s Comair commuter carrier and the union representing 1,400 striking pilots agreed to start 72 hours of talks Tuesday aimed at ending a walkout that began March 26. The agreement to hold the first talks since the union rejected a contract proposal May 12 came after the two sides met with Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta. The members of the Air Line Pilots Assn. are striking over pay, benefits and work rules.

China Eastern Airlines Corp., the Asian nation's third-largest carrier, canceled the licenses of some of the 13 pilots who aborted flights in southwestern Yunnan province earlier this year to protest work conditions. Some pilots were demoted and others' licenses were suspended, China Eastern said. Eight company officials also were punished for mismanagement because of the incidents, the statement said. A total of 21 flights from Yunnan returned to their departing airports March 31 and April 1 without flying to their destinations, affecting more than 1,000 passengers.

A federal investigation into the deadly crash of a Colgan Air twin-engine turboprop near Buffalo, N.Y., this year is raising broad questions about the flight training and working conditions for pilots at regional airlines across the country. A National Transportation Safety Board hearing Wednesday in Washington revealed that the pilot and co-pilot of the ill-fated plane were low-paid, had to commute hundreds of miles to work and probably were fatigued as they made the evening flight Feb.

With terrorists now using aircraft as weapons, a union representing commercial airline pilots is advising its members to act aggressively when confronted by hijackers. Pilots have been taught in annual training sessions to cooperate with hijackers. But that was before Tuesday's terrorist attacks. "We've been guarding against the traditional hijacker who wanted the aircraft on the ground and his monetary or political demands met," said David Richards, a US Airways pilot from Charlotte, N.C.

American Airlines and its pilots passed up a chance Wednesday to have their contract dispute settled by an arbitrator, putting the nation's No. 2 carrier 30 days away from a possible strike. If no settlement is reached during the so-called cooling-off period, the pilots would be allowed to strike Feb. 15 and American would be free to impose the contract it wants. American's parent company, AMR Corp.

Pilots at South Korea's two major airlines plan to go ahead with job actions set for early this week, signaling possible havoc in the midst of the high travel season, a news report said Sunday. Unionized pilots of Korean Air and Asiana Airlines are demanding better benefits and the power to change their assistants and cabin crew members, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said.