Covering plane crashes

As a refugee from the transportation beat of many years ago, I can't begin to marvel at how the Internet has made the job of such reporters and editors easier.

If you are dealing with yesterday's Air France crash, or any other, a good place to check is the Aviation Safety Network site, a volunteer effort that has a great set of resources.

This description from its database should be enough to convince you:

The ASN Safety Database, updated every week, contains descriptions of over 10,000 airliner, military transport category aircraft and corporate jet aircraft safety occurrences since 1943.