I’ve had a lot of people asking me about airplanes with parachutes lately, so I thought it would make for a worthy post here.

In short, yes, there is an airplane that has a parachute on it. It’s manufactured by Cirrus and it’s called CAPS (Cirrus Airframe Parachute System). If you find yourself out of control and expect that a crash may be imminent, you pull the handle and a 55 foot parachute is deployed to bring the airplane down to the ground. Go to the Cirrus site for more info and a video of it in action.

There have been a handful of successful deployments of the parachute, and for that reason alone it seems like a great idea to me. Why not have that extra level of safety built in so that you know if all else fails, you can still make it down alive.

Can this work for commercial airliners? Hmm, that’s a tougher issue. The Cirrus is a lightweight single engine plane. Commercial airliners are a lot heavier, fly faster and higher, and need a bigger area to put down. It’s definitely a much greater challenge, and I don’t even know whether it’s possible. Still, wouldn’t it be nice?

This afternoon a judge ruled that, well, he’s not ready to rule yet.

So he told the Northwest flight attendants they won’t be able to strike tonight at 10p Eastern as they originally planned. I haven’t seen a new date when a ruling is to be expected but it could be coming anyday I suppose.

You won’t hear much from me again until Monday. My girlfriend and I headed out today to visit her parents, but sadly our bag full of toiletries didn’t make it with us. Stay tuned for the rest of the story next week along with a full trip report.

If you own a Dell laptop, or even if you don’t, you’ve probably heard about the tiny little problem of laptop batteries catching on fire. If you haven’t heard about it and you own a Dell, uh, you may want to check here to see if you’re at risk.

Today, Apple announced it’s following suit and recalling iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 batteries from the past three years for similar problems. Both of these battery recalls related to Sony-made batteries.

As this continues to become a bigger issue, airlines are likely going to start looking at this much more closely.

First up to bat is Qantas. They have now banned the use of affected laptops if the battery is in and the unit is plugged in. Yeah, it’s that convoluted. So, if you use battery power, that’s fine. If you plug it in where they have onboard powerports, you must first remove the battery. And of course, this only applies to batteries that have been recalled. Not sure how they’re going to enforce that one.

That doesn’t affect too many people, but this could just be the tip of the iceberg. If more batteries are recalled, keep an eye on changing airline policies.

In what must be one of the more creative promotions around, Nantucket Airlines has decided to have a limerick contest.

Everyone knows the famous limerick that begins, “There once was a man from Nantucket.” If you don’t know it, you can probably guess what rhymes with Nantucket. So Nantucket Airlines has tweaked it a bit to incorporate the island’s airport code . . . ACK.

First prize of 10 one way tickets between ACK and Hyannis isn’t too interesting, but 2nd prize is a t-shirt that would be much cooler. All who enter get a sticker that looks like the image shown here.

So come up with your best entry and submit it today. Post if here if you’d like to share it with others as well.

If you’re interested in airports, you might want to check out Aviation Daily’s new airports blog. It’s written by the knowledgeable and always entertaining Benet Wilson. She worked in corporate communications for Delta until recently, so you know she must have a great sense of humor.

Anyway, in her first real post today, she talks about how airports are trying to bring local food providers into the terminals to give them an authentic feel. I must admit that I’m a big fan of this idea.

I really have no interest in eating at another Wendy’s unless it happens to be in its Columbus, Ohio hometown. And I really can’t handle Chili’s in the airport anymore. Sadly, that kind of food tends to be the best stuff around. Otherwise it’s pre-wrapped sandwiches which I can barely stomach.

So when Washington/National airport opened its new terminal in the 90′s with a Legal Seafood, I was simply amazed. To be fair, that’s a Boston establishment, but the trend was in the right direction.

Now when I go to Phoenix, I’ll choose Blue Burrito Grille (US Airways side of Terminal 4) over any of the other places there. At LAX, it’s, well . . . I guess LAX has a lot of catching up to do.

Anyone have any favorite local airport joints?