The Toronto Star, Hamilton Spectator and Kitchener-Waterloo Record (I can't bring myself to call it "The Record of Waterloo Region") publish a special section today that details the results of an investigation in air transportation safety. The investigation was done by some very talented friends and former colleagues at each of those papers.

"More than 80,000 passengers have been put at risk over the last five years when airplanes they were travelling in came dangerously close together in Canadian skies, according to never-before-released federal aviation data.

Between 2001 and mid-2005, there were more than 800 incidents in which planes got too close to each other, according to Transport Canada data — about one incident every two days. Sometimes, they come within seconds of crashing.

This is one of the major findings in a joint investigation of the Canadian commercial airline industry by the Toronto Star, the Hamilton Spectator and The Record of Waterloo Region.

The investigation found a safety system straining at the seams. Experts — pilots, mechanics, airline workers and people who study aviation data — warn significant changes must be made to prevent a major catastrophe . . .[Read the full story]