Sorry, I misremembered the stat, it's only 380 times, and it goes by the Standard and Poors 500 index.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/04/19/news/economy/ceo-pay/index.htm

Basically, it's an aggregate of the top 300 companies in the US. Which definitely includes most places that would have factories and/or unionized workers.

http://www.aflcio.org/Corporate-Watch/CEO-Pay-and-the-99/Trends-in-CEO-Pay

Average compensation of CEO of S&P 500 companies: about 13 mil.

So only 10 million (+/-) per CEO in S&P 500 companies. Big difference there. Lies, damn lies, and statistics. Those numbers (comparing the 500 largest manufacturing to the rest of the world) is not a valid comparison. What do the European countries use for their index? Do they include all the SMBs in it? That avergae comes *way* down if you include every company who employs more than say, 50 people. *Way* down.

Semck lies more than his hero Romney.

Yeah, Semck - I think you're drawing a bit much of a conclusion here... some pilot is the only guy saying this... everybody else says no? I'm not saying it didn't happen or it isn't possible, but nobody's given me enough info to formulate any kind of opinion here. Maybe you're letting your bias get the better of you?

Perhaps, YJ. I found the alternative explanations in this thread interesting, especially Draug's (insufficient procedures), which is the only other one that seems credible to me, really. Fortunately, we may find out, since that's something the FAA would likely find in its investigation.

As for the oft-quoted "pilot" line, I should point out that I immediately thought of union sabotage when I saw the headline -- the pilot's quotation only confirmed it as something to consider. There is a relatively small class of things that could cause such a hugely improbable set of events. The only two I've heard so far that seem compelling are inadequate written procedures and deliberate union sabotage. As you suggest (and as I said earlier), we'll need to wait and learn more to know for sure.

The reason I think insufficient procedures is responsible is that it is only one type of plane affected: the Boeing 757.

Yeah Draug, but that's also the only type of plane where they've been reconfiguring the seats at all.

Which *also* leads one to think the procedures are insufficient. However, the latest news story indicate that the locking pin may get gummed up and not fully engage and this may be the problem. In short, poor design.

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2012/10/04/aa-to-conduct-2nd-round-of-757-seat-inspections/