Supreme Court justices debated Monday how much leeway to grant airlines in reporting security threats that are eventually proven false, USA Today reports. The case involves Air Wisconsin Airlines, which argued that it deserves the same immunity from lawsuits as it granted the Transportation Security Administration, the article says. The airline had lost a $1.4 million defamation case after reporting that a pilot, William Hoeper, was “mentally unstable” and could be armed as a passenger on a flight after he failed a simulator test.
Federal regulators are closer to letting airline passengers use their smartphones, tablets, e-readers and other electronic gadgets during takeoffs and landings.
U.S. travelers will be chosen on a case-by-case basis to use expedited-screening lines at airports without having to provide more personal information than they now give airlines.
A 61-year-old Frenchman impersonated a pilot and sat in the cockpit of a US Airways plane before a scheduled flight from Philadelphia International Airport.