peter goelz, a former managing director of the national transportation safety board, the agency that examines flight accidents in this country and elsewhere. peter, africa has long had a troubled history of airplane safety yet nigeria just recently was upgraded to sort of top level status by the united states. was that premature? >> well, i think that's one of the questions that is going to come out of this accident. it was raised to category 1. you are absolutely right, jon, that africa has been a concern for the world's aviation community for almost 20 years. and the accident rate in africa have been high. they continue to be high and there is a lack of confidence in the safety systems in the continent. jon: this particular plane, an md-83, was built by an american company, mcdonnell douglas, now owned by boeing. it was flown by american air