To stay on topic, is pilot job market picking up at all?, let's speak about our economy and fuel price:
The Dow Jones industrial average plunged nearly 300 points in early trading before recovering more than half of its losses to finish down nearly 138 points at 11,855, a six-week low. The uncertainty fueling the selloff could hang over stock markets and the global economy for a while, analysts say.
"The headlines are scary. Nuclear environmental disasters scare people," Thomas Lee, chief U.S. equities strategist for JPMorgan Chase, told CNBC on Tuesday.
The global financial turmoil sparked by Japan's earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis — which has wiped out about $300 billion in U.S. stock values alone this week — is particularly troubling for the United States and several other countries, where an economic recovery has been showing signs of derailing because political unrest in Libya and the Middle East has led to a sharp run-up in crude oil prices.
Already, the turmoil in Japan is affecting U.S. companies, investors and consumers, threatening disruptions in the flow of products and parts used to manufacture everything from Apple iPads to Sony televisions.
Insurers that have large exposure to potential Japanese claims saw their stock prices sink Tuesday. So did that of industrial giant General Electric, a big player in nuclear power and the maker of the damaged reactors at Japan's beleaguered Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, where the ongoing battle to contain radiation is renewing long-running questions about the design of GE's reactors.
MARKETS: U.S. stocks drop as fear about crisis spreads
ENERGY: Japan's nuke threat 'a wake-up call' for the U.S.
Meanwhile, Toyota's Kentucky manufacturing plant, which produces Camrys and other popular models for the Japanese automaker, has begun cutting overtime shifts because of concerns about the flow of auto supplies from Japanese factories.
The bigger concern is the simple unknown of what's happening in Japan, the world's third-biggest economy after the USA and China. Will its nuclear crisis unravel further, and discourage activity in some industrial areas or even spread radioactive contamination well beyond Japan? How will the country manage its earthquake recovery? And in the USA, what will be the long-term effect on Wall Street and Main Street?
"Right now, investors are justifiably worried," says economist Ethan Harris of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. "The really big risk aversion (to stocks) started in the Middle East. With what's happening in Japan, the two have created dread and uncertainty. Nobody's done scenario planning for this type of disaster. It's terrifying."
As long as Japan's nuclear crisis doesn't significantly worsen, most economists expect the overall impact to the United States to be minimal. Japan accounts for 6.4% of U.S. imports and about 4.7% of exports.
However, further selloffs on Wall Street could have an impact on consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of the economy.
"Extreme uncertainty over the extent of the nuclear disaster may add to a sense that global events are spinning out of control," notes Nariman Behravesh, chief economist of IHS Global Insight. "This can make consumers — and perhaps businesses — more fearful, which in turn can lead to postponement of decisions to purchase or hire."
Consumers also could be crimped by rising fuel prices, up nearly 30% in recent weeks.