News In Brief

Airline pilots' union asks Continental safety inquiry

The Air Line Pilots Association, a union representing 34,000 pilots, asked Congress to investigate Continental Airlines on grounds the Texas-based carrier is unsafe.

''We believe that today's 'New Continental,' with its clearly discernible and growing pattern of flight- and maintenance-related incidents, flagrantly compromises the safety of its passengers and of the aircraft that must share the same airspace,'' association president Henry Duffy told a news conference.

Continental denied that any of the airline's practices are unsafe.