six passengers killed when two tour planes collided in alaska. two chopper crashes in hawaii. three dead. five tourists killed in new york when their chopper went down in the east river. this is really buyer beware. you as the customer have to do your research to determine the safety level of this company because they don t operate at the same more consistent robust standards as a major airline. reporter: search google or the faa or ntsb website. is the operator certified as an air taxi? are the pilot s licensed to the minimum standard or required to have more experience? have there been accidents? if so, what happened? if it doesn t sound safe, don t go. tom costello, nbc news, washington. one of the more colorful characters ever to run for president of the united states has died. ross perot, the seflt-made texas billionaire who tried to reach the white house twice as a plain-talking independent. n american orind it s time for the clean-up crew. reporter: a quirky brash countr
of recreation and how you truly need training and some experience before taking on a cave exploration of this magnitude. caving is a very safe support if you follow certain rules. if anybody s really interested in caving, they can go to the national society s site, caves.org. what you want to do is let somebody know where you re going, make sure they have permission of the landowner, make sure they have three sources of light. these rules may not be known in other countries, they might visit the caves a little differently. those of us in the united states have got support and education from the national speliological society, which raises the safety level of caving. what will it be like for these young men when they come
and maintenance, and we are doing whatever we can to improve the safety level, and again, after this terrible accident maybe feelings have been chang changed, but the professional commitment has not changed a single bit. reporter: but you accept that some people will be feeling uneasy about getting on the planes at this point? we understand emotionals, but for us as professionals we have to let you understand that we are not touched with the professionalisms, and we are not going to be touched, and we will not let it be be touched in the future. reporter: and so in the united states there has to be a person who has to go into the cockpit if a pilot leaves such as at a ten dant the. attendant.
for exposure to that deadly disease. turns out there was a mixup in lab specimens. peter deucey is following the story. how does something like this happen with something so deadly? reporter: they are saying the possible expokes exposure happened when the sample was moved through the lab with a different safety level. it had approved bio level 4 with the virus but not level 2. and for reason the sample was transported to the unapproved lab and a scientist unknowingly worked on it. the sample was destroyed and lab was cleaned as part of normal procedure and after the instance the scientist learned what happened the lab was cleaned,
just one fatality for every 7.1 million passengers worldwide. that s the best safety level on record. the previous best was in 2004. travel experts say better technology and better crew training helped make flying less hazardous. so let s hope 2012 even safer. so it is the number one issue in american homes, getting your financial house in order. today, in our weekly financial fix, how to keep your new year s financial resolutions as it is by tradition the number two resolution that we make, that after taking care of our health matters. let s talk about our financial health and bring in author of it s just money so why does it cause so many problems, karen lee. good to see you. you too. happy new year. happy new year. folks always want to say, i m going to get myself in shape and also get financially in shape as well. get rid of debt, save more money. let s help us tackle getting rid of debt first. that s the toughest, isn t it? it is tough. the first thing i want to talk