[mad_as_he$$]

No he went to jail for shipping the sodium via air. Would you want your family on an aircraft that was transporting sodium? BTW he needs to sue UPS if indeed the packages were labeled correctly. EPA and DOT rules and regulations make it the shipper’s responsibility to insure no violations occur but UPS seems to be at fault if they didn’t inform him that aircraft would be used in “ground” shipments. More behind the story stuff:

http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=17088

[tacticalogic]

No he went to jail for shipping the sodium via air. Would you want your family on an aircraft that was transporting sodium?

No, but I wouldn't ship my family via UPS, which is the only way they'd end up on a UPS flight.

[Hulka]

Didn’t the article say he checked the “ground” option with FedEx, and that FedEx then shipped via air?

[sharkhawk]

No he went to jail for shipping the sodium via air. Would you want your family on an aircraft that was transporting sodium? BTW he needs to sue UPS if indeed the packages were labeled correctly. EPA and DOT rules and regulations make it the shipper’s responsibility to insure no violations occur but UPS seems to be at fault if they didn’t inform him that aircraft would be used in “ground” shipments. More behind the story stuff:

I don't think merely marking it as a ground shipment would be enough. Ground just means he's paying a cheaper rate. It might go by air if that's more convenient for the shipper. I think he has to inform UPS he's shipping a hazardous substance, and it can't travel by air. If he did that, than no problem, If he just marked ground shipping, I think he should be in trouble.