I can find a dozen threads on the USAir board with FTs complaining endlessly about bad Business Class seats, or poor First Class experiences, etc. But let USAir almost kill a planeload of passengers, and here come the apologists...

Again guys, let's use our heads and think this through. All I have read so far are off-the-cuff comments (one line responses that add no value - "I don't think she deserves anything") and jokes. No one seems to have thought this through seriously.

Again, I'm no lawyer, but put the actual engine manufacturer (Boeing or whomever) on the stand under oath, and ask them a simple question - "Why don't you design an engine that can survive a bird strike?" I bet the answer will be something like "We can and we did, but USAir didn't want to pay for it." I'm not allowed in USAir's boardroom, but I'm sure the topic of bird strikes, and what to do about them, has come up over the last few decades. It would not surprise me that they would perform a risk calculation, and decide that bird strikes are rare, and the solution is expensive, so therefore we will not implement said solution.

Now it IS starting to sound like the fault of USAir, isn't it?

Don't mean to pick on USAir - I'm sure most airlines have had similar conversations.