In addition to the many major airlines that operate in the US market, there are so-called "commuter airlines" flying from major cities to minor points. In the east, Texas and California some passengers do indeed commute on them. In much of the underpopulated west, however, they replace the major airlines on quite long routes to the small urban outposts on prairies, plains and deserts. If you want to fly from Denver to Dallas, you will be on a jet that can carry hundreds of passengers. Fly the 350 kilometers from Denver to Rapid City, South Dakota (population 50,000 and emptiness all around),on the other hand, and you'll be in an aircraft that can transport no more than 35 people.

　　These smaller craft are enjoyably intimate and perfectly airworthy, but they have safety require-ments quite different from those of the high-flying behemoths. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has recently announced that it will begin requiring commuter airlines to ask passengers how much they weigh. This is so that weight can be distributed more effectively on small planes.

　　America, as all the world knows, has more than its share of obese citizens, and they are seldom pleased to divulge their weight. Chan Lowe, today's cartoonist, offers us a vision of what "fibbing" might lead to. "To fib", for you English-learners, is an important colloquial verb meaning "to lie", but it is also slightly euphemistic: it takes the sting out of the act,hinting that the lie was minor or pardonable, a "white lie", not malicious deception. As the commuter plane in the cartoon plunges downward, the fat passenger testily refuses to acknowledge her guilt in misleading the airline about her weight.

　　Are passengers really in danger from such fibs? Probably not. Statisticians can easily generate "lie coefficients" to adjust for the human tendency to fib away a few pounds. My guess is that for Americans it would be about 15% on average.