[Butch Cassidy Slept Here]

Heavy snows and severe icing conditions are a near certainty at airports in the northern half of the country every year. The status quo of allowing the airlines to, in effect, abandon, or, in many cases, strand, their customers is unacceptable. Full sized jet aircraft, with crews, ARE available, for charter, on relatively short notice. Whether there is enough charter capacity to meet the needs of a major snow storm remains to be seen. Since everyone knows this kind of bad weather comes every year the government needs to order the airlines to behave responsibly and either adjust schedules, suspend service on some routes during the winter; have the extra equipment and "on-call" crews available, or "all of the above."