The airline industry’s practice of outsourcing more than half of
U.S. domestic flights to regional carriers has raised serious
safety concerns. In this video clip from Flying Cheap, students
will learn about this trend and examine some of the many factors
that may have contributed to the accident from a variety of
perspectives. For classrooms studying social studies, economics
and technology, FRONTLINE provides a set of themes and
discussion questions for Flying Cheap to help students analyze
and understand key current events. Watch the video clip and
start a discussion to examine how the airline industry seeks to
save money and ensure safety. Go further into this topic with
the Flying Cheap Lesson Plan, which asks students to make flight
safety recommendations from various perspectives. As a way of
cutting costs, major airlines increasingly use smaller regional
carriers, like Colgan Air, to operate more than half of U.S.
domestic flights. Passengers are generally not aware that their
flights are frequently o