I had to skim through the posts so dodn't know if anybody made this point - wouldn't a transatlantic flight from Europe to LA have a similar amount of fuel as it entered US airspace as a transcontinental flight from NY to LA, which is what the 9/11 flights were like? (adjsuting, of course, for the flight path which wouldn't bring it over NY but may bring it in closer to Chicago).
While I am no fan of recent French politics, when I visited Normandy in April 1998 with my then-12 and 10 year old daughters, it was moving for me and for them to visit a small British cemetary about 5 miles south of Bayeux - in a corner of a farmer's field, with about 60 British graves and one free Czech soldier, all died about June 10 1944 - the grounds were immaculate and each grave had a recently-placed bouquet of paper flowers, obviously made by school kids, with "Merci" written on them - someone was teaching those kids something right. That wasn't in June on a D-day anniversary, so don't know what the occasion was. Also, the friendliness of the people towards my family and the signs in shops - not just tourist shops - written in part in English with American and British flags, "We Welcome our Liberators."
"...wouldn't a transatlantic flight from Europe to LA have a similar amount of fuel as it entered US airspace as a transcontinental flight from NY to LA, which is what the 9/11 flights were like?"
Many of the flights stop in Newark to clear customs - even though it is not listed as a destination. Ones that are truely non-stop go way north - up by the pole.
This might be an interesting link -
http://www.flightview.com/TravelTools/default.asp Two flights today from Paris-LA show "no data available" - could be the cancelled ones.
wouldn't a transatlantic flight from Europe to LA have a similar amount of fuel as it entered US airspace as a transcontinental flight from NY to LA, which is what the 9/11 flights were like? A flight from Paris direct to LA would enter North America near or over Newfoundland and enter the US near or over North Dakota. It wouldn't go near NY or Chicago, and wouldn't go over any major city until it nears LA.
P.S. Nice wall.