• A new Pentagon report blames a civilian contractor for nearly taking down a Boeing 707-based E-8C JSTARS in 2009. The fault: During routine maintenance, he failed to remove a plug from a pressure relief valve in a fuel tank, causing the tank and the left wing to burst as the jet attempted an aerial refueling over the Middle East. The plane itself is a writeoff, but perhaps some of the expensive electronics inside could be used elsewhere. [Defense Tech]
• American Airlines seeks to lay off about 13,000 employees and ditch its pension obligations. [The Atlantic]
• Perhaps of solace to those afraid of flying: Air travel is 93 percent safer than it used to be. [Bloomberg BusinessWeek]
• TSA screeners at LaGuardia Airport didn’t allow two devices onto a plane because they resembled pipe bombs, but didn’t bother notifying the cops for six hours. [New York Post]
• Airlines have been offering increasingly high quality wine selections onboard. So why not beer, too? [APEX]
