but I guess that's to be expected. From today's AvWeb:

Puffs Of Smoke Scare Citizens Silly...

This one gets the Chicken Little award. Sixty residents of Folsom, Calif., called police last weekend after they saw an airplane flying in circles emitting clouds of white smoke. One woman even went to the hospital to see if she had contracted a noxious airborne substance from the event, fearing that if she went home she might infect her family. Local police, the FBI and Sacramento firefighters swarmed over Mather Airport after the FAA tracked the aircraft there. Authorities shut down the airport, a former Air Force base, while they investigated, according to a story in the Sacramento Bee. What they found: Stunt pilot
Julie Clark had been testing some new injectors on the smoke system of the T-34 she flies in airshows -- puffing red, white and blue smoke while Lee Greenwood's tune "God Bless the USA" is played for the crowd. Clark was getting the 1956 Beechcraft trainer ready for a Veterans Day performance. The local authorities did not find that her practice violated any regulations, but turned the matter over to the FAA just in case. She told the Bee she'll practice someplace a little less populated from now on -- and notify the FBI ahead of time.

...While Airline Pilots And Cabin Crews Are Tense...

The folks of Folsom are not the only ones whose nerves are on edge. Last week, a United Airlines trip from Orlando to Dulles was canceled after the flight crew refused to fly, according to NewsChannel2000. Federal sky marshals took a man off the airplane to question him because his name was similar to one on an FBI list of suspected terrorist accomplices. The marshals determined he was not the man they were looking for, and allowed him back on board, but the pilots apparently were not convinced. This week, the Wall Street Journal reported that cabin crews are feeling vulnerable now that cockpit doors will soon be reinforced. The Association of Flight Attendants is pushing for self-defense training and wants attendants to be armed with pepper spray, mace or stun guns. So much for complaining about cold coffee...

...And False Alarm Closes Cleveland Airport

A security device designed to detect explosives in baggage triggered an alarm Monday at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, in Ohio, shutting the facility down for three hours and delaying hundreds of flights -- some for up to five hours. A woman proceeding through Concourse C, operated by Continental Airlines, was randomly selected to have her baggage scanned with the specialized equipment. Before security personnel realized the scan was positive, the woman had picked up the bag and continued down the concourse. Officials tracked her down and screened the bag again. The second time, it came up negative. Preferring not to take chances, however, Continental Airlines evacuated the C and D concourses and conducted a full sweep of the area, which included search efforts by the FBI, FAA, Cleveland police, airline personnel and bomb-sniffing dogs. After questioning the pax and finding nothing suspicious anywhere, the concourses were later reopened.

And in the meantime:

Some 41,000 private planes are still grounded in enhanced class B (ECB) airspace around the country. This represents over a billion dollars in personal property that has been rendered useless. Many businesses that operate from airports located in ECB airspace are tettering on the brink of bankrupsy. How long could your business survive if the federal government cut your business by 90% or more?