BRACE FOR LANDING — Hands up if you've traveled in an airplane this summer and experienced one of the following: confusion about Covid rules, endless lines on the way past security or at customs, delayed flight departures and/or extended stays on the tarmac, canceled flights, lost baggage, an ArriveCAN submission that disappeared into the ether, and/or poor customer service. If you've spent any time on an airplane, your hands are likely tired by now. — Noisy Friday: That's why the House transport committee is interrupting an otherwise lazy afternoon in the dog days to demand answers from Transport Minister OMAR ALGHABRA and senior public servants who are wading through the morass of a government PR disaster. Even if the tangled web of airport-based headaches isn't entirely on them. It's complicated, okay? — Covid Alert: Alghabra recently tested positive for the virus, so presumably his testimony will give viewers a live look inside a quiet corner of his home. — Origin story: Conservative transport critic MELISSA LANTSMAN , the committee's vice-chair, moved a motion earlier this month to launch a probe into fumbles at Canadian airports, despite warnings that passenger traffic would surge this summer. The motion passed unanimously. Expect a grilling from every MP who doesn't identify as Liberal. The Bloc vice-chair, XAVIER BARSALOU-DUVAL, and NDP MP TAYLOR BACHRACH co-signed an Aug. 4 demand for a committee meeting. Bachrach will likely have harsh words for both federal officials and, if they were on the witness list, the airlines doing all the flying. — Who's at fault? That's the question of the day, and everybody has an opinion. We know you do. The Toronto Star's RICHARD WARNICA wrote the feature of the summer on airport chaos, and boarded flights all over the content as he tried to pin down the culprits. What Warnica found: "The number one reason why so many passengers have had so many problems flying in to and out of Pearson this year is that the airlines simply sold far more seats this spring and summer than either they or the airport had the staff to accommodate." Airline execs are nowhere near today's witness list. And if it were up to DUNCAN DEE, a former Air Canada chief operating officer, they're not the bad guys here. Dee unleashed a torrent of tweets in response to Warnica's reporting. From earlier this week: The Globe’s investigation of Pearson delays. Their take: “The chaos at Toronto Pearson has laid bare a broken governance system, not only in the Canadian airport model itself but among the multiple federal agencies serving the aviation industry.” — Band-aids: For most of us, the practical solutions are clear. Go to the airport hours early just in case, and never ever check a bag, especially if you have a connection. Just us? We didn't think so. — A hint at what's to come: Expect Lantsman to go after the government's cheerful updates on recent progress fighting delays. She spent part of Thursday afternoon poking holes in federal data. One example: The feds claim more than 85 percent of flights left on time, or within an hour of their scheduled departure. That's up from 75 percent a month earlier. Lantsman pointed out what you've probably already noticed. "Within an hour" is still a delay. And aggregated national data ignores acute problems at two major airports in Toronto and Montreal. The Tory MP claims two in five flights out of Pearson on Wednesday faced delays. — CPC solution: "The GoC should codify standards on how long travelers should wait in CATSA and customs lines — and have the data collected and reported independently," Lantsman pitched on Twitter. "Government collecting its own data, using its own methodology is self-serving and leads to more communications than policy." — The hot seat: When Alghabra is through, here's a selection of who's up next: Transport DM MICHAEL KEENAN and three bureaucrats; Canadian Air Transport Security Authority president and CEO MIKE SAUNDERS and a pair of execs; Canada Border Services Agency vice-president DENIS VINETTE, and Public Health Agency of Canada VP JENNIFER LUTFALLAH. Grab some mid-afternoon popcorn and tune in here. | 
