At about 10:20 EST, Continental Flight 3407 (also reported as 1304), a commuter plane out of Newark, crashed into a home in Buffalo, New York. According to reports, all 48 people aboard -- 44 passengers and four crew members -- and one person on the ground were killed.

The scene is currently engulfed in flames. The plane had been quite late departing Newark was arriving two hours past its scheduled time when it crashed about 10 miles from Buffalo Niagara International Airport. The Q400 Bombardier aircraft was flying in fog, snow and wind.

After last month's crash landing of a US Airways flight, airline stocks have taken quite a hit, all down as much as 50% since their highs in early January. Good news for the crew of flight 1549 did not translate into good news for US Airways (NYSE: LCC), and certainly not for Continental Airlines Inc. (NYSE: CAL). Though the airline's stock will likely see big volatility at the start of trading on Friday, I don't expect this news to majorly impact the fortunes of either Continental or US Airways over the next 30 days.

Northwest Airlines Corp (NYSE: NWA) disclosed yesterday that it canceled 10.7% of its flights from Friday to Monday. One of the main reasons for the debacle? The higher-than normal-rate of pilot "sick calls." Northwest said in a statement it was "working to remedy the situation and expects shortly to operate a normal summertime schedule."

I'm sure that made all the delayed travelers so forgiving.

It's a problem that Northwest pilots warned management of in the past. In the concessionary labor contract that was signed last year, the limit on monthly flight hours for pilots jumped from 80 to 90. Wade Blaufuss, a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association, told the AP many Northwest pilots are finding themselves flying maximum hours and don't get adequate rest. The Muskegon Chronicle said the airline pilots' union expects this problem to continue throughout the summer.

Northwest emerged from bankruptcy in May with less enthusiasm than when Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) came out earlier last month. Instead, workers have been focused on the $26.6 million in stock awards given to CEO Doug Steenland – while rank-and-file took pay cut after pay cut to keep the company afloat.

Does this mean that pilots are staging a sick-out? Probably, but don't expect them to admit it. It's the summer-time - kids are graduating, people go on vacation and some just need to rest.

Sadly, that's exactly what people who paid for a Northwest flight have been trying to do as well.

Kevin Shult is a writer for TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).

Last month I traveled with my fiancee to a friends' wedding in Buffalo, New York. We purchased tickets online nearly two months in advance so we didn't have to worry about inflated prices or lack of seats, but to my surprise, it wasn't the price I had to worry about -- it was my seat, or lack of it.

After waiting on line after line to have my luggage and shoes inspected by the most qualified inspectors at LaGuardia Airport, we walked to our gate only to see the place mobbed by people, like myself, who just wished they could sit down for five minutes in those uncomfortable seats -- but every one was taken.

Standing at our gate with the rest of the crowd, I realized the e-tickets we purchased nearly two months prior lacked seating numbers, forcing me to stand on another line.

When I finally reached the attendant at our gate, I informed her of our situation. Her face did all the talking.

How many reports of overheating lithium laptop batteries must we hear before airport security agents start cracking down on my Dell Inspiron or your Apple MacBook? Sure, the damage intended by terrorists from a seemingly innocuous-looking bottle of liquid would be terrible. But today's reports of overheating -- and in some cases, spontaneously combusting -- laptop batteries brought the considerable specter of an exploding laptop at 30,000 feet.

"Most of the incidents reported to the CPSC occurred around the home, but transportation-safety officials have become increasingly concerned about the threat of a laptop causing a catastrophic fire aboard a commercial jetliner," said the AP version of the report. The New York Times article brought up a fire in the overhead bin of a Lufthansa jet while on the runway in Chicago (no one has confirmed whether or not this battery was housed in a Dell laptop).

With Apple recalling MacBooks because of overheating in June, I have to wonder: how is it that shampoo is verboten, but a potentially flammable laptop can proceed on the plane, to huddle on the floor with all the other laptops, cell phones, Blackberries and illiquid snacks? Investors' minds clearly weren't going where mine is, with Dell down 1.41% in after-hours trading, Apple up a bit, and after-hours quotes unavailable for American Airlines and Delta.