If the airlines are doing that, they are violating FAA regs. By law they are required to carry enough fuel to make it to an alternate landing site and still have 45 minutes reserve. I think US Airways just got nailed for trying to circumvent that requirement. Nonetheless, like any regulated industry, such businesses will constantly try and push the limits of enforcement.

As for the old William Shatner/John Lithgow Twilight Zone episode, well, I deliberately didn't look at the wing. If there'd been something out there playing around with us, the big monkey I think would've lost it.

I am getting real tired of this same weather pattern. It got old last year, and May wasn't enough of a break for me. I need to go somewhere it don't rain every day. I swear, it rains more often here in Florida than it did in Seattle, and it is never just a gentle calming rain either. Even the west Texas storms I grew up with weren't this ridiculous!