A friend of ours flew with an old mutt named ``Rabbit'' that he swore was so sensitive to airspeed that he'd bark whenever the aircraft was approaching a stall. When I told him he was full of baloney, he piled me and Rabbit into his airplane and off we went. Wouldn't you know that ol' Rabbit woofed just as the plane began to buffet; he was a reliable stall warning indicator after all!

There may be relief in sight for business aircraft operators saddled with sobering hikes in insurance premiums since the deepening of the recession and the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Depending on whom you talk to, there has been either a tapering off of increases in premium renewals or actual decreases since January for operators of turbine-powered, professionally crewed aircraft.

Wherever on the compass rose American operators point the noses of their business jets today, security should be uppermost on the minds of flight crews and passengers alike. Since the war in Iraq, U.S. approval abroad has rarely been lower, according to international surveys publicized this spring. The post-9/11 environment has conferred on operators a new aviation security vocabulary, Air Security International Vice President Charlie LeBlanc claims: Risk assessment: Doing your homework before you go.