Also, nobody is really arguing for different sized aircraft here. I can’t imagine a widebody being used on the transcontinental flights – we’ll just see more of the same planes we see today with more fuel onboard. Today’s accident has absolutely nothing to do with fuel load.

Sam’s arguments do not, however. The plane in question, a fully loaded A320 is smaller than the 757, the largest plane operating at DCA. The fuel load to Charlotte is nowhere close to the requirement of a transcon flight, which that plane is capable of depending on the purchasing airline’s requirements.

Third, initial reports of a bird strike in both engines mean deliberate sabotage was not a factor. Praises to the pilot who successfully ditched in to the Hudson, on the other side of Manhattan and the East River from LGA.

A “double-strike,” while rare can bring down any plane of any size, as it did in this case. The size of the plane or the length of the journey wasn’t the issue.

As someone that lives closer to DFW and to DAL but flies WN (they actually get me home when AA likes to strand me places) I am glad to have a choice. I live on the approach to AFW, I knew that when I moved here. If a FedEx MD-11 or AA 777 takes out the neighborhood….There aren’t a lot of people living around either DAL or MDW that predate the airport.

I have never heard of any effort to build a new SAN and close Lindbergh. Same as in DC with Andrews AFB, the likelihood of Miramar becoming a commercial airport is slim to none. Anyone at AA and UA both will tell you MDW and DAL should have been shut down long ago. Politics, the clout of Southwest at both fields and even local sentiment, however, means those fields will be around for quite some time.

In 1966 AA went to the plane makers wanting a widebody smaller than the 747 with medium to long haul range, could handle shorter runways, was quiet enough for local neighborhoods and leant itself to slot restrictions. Any airport at the time was a no-brainer with the exception of DCA. They meant and wanted LGA.

Engine technology of the day dictated a tri-jet until Airbus came along with the A300 nearly a decade later. Boeing was busy with the 747 whose wingspan would never have worked. Lockheed wanted to re-enter the passenger market and whipped up the L-1011. Douglas didn’t want to lose out and whipped up the DC-10. AA and UA went Douglas, taking their first birds on the exact same day in a joint ceremony. DL and EA went Lockheed and all four ran their fleets in to LGA where they stayed until the 757 and 767 combo gradually took them out.

I respectfully agree with Cranky in the assessment that less fuel simply means the aircraft won’t burn as long. It does not guarantee fewer victims. Using EOW alone a 757 at 127,000 pounds and making 400 knots will do major damage regardless of the fuel load on board.

Eastern successfully “tested” the A300 in to DCA but it was determined too much of a ramp hog to operate efficiently.

The DC-10 and L-1011 both were designed specifically with LGA in mind as a way to serve more people with fewer available slots. They operated there nearly to the end of their commercial careers. DL has operated the 767-300 in to LGA from ATL, an airplane almost as big as the first two.

May they rest in peace, the Air Florida crash was a wing-ice disaster; it had nothing to do with the size, weight or amount of fuel on the plane.

Finally, I have no problem in closing National for security and safety reasons but you’ll have a huge fight on your hands if the government is required to find another airfield to replace Andrews. I doubt quite seriously they will share the Air Force One field with civilian or commercial aviation.