1.   As many airline commuters are well aware, federal law prohibits the use of wireless communications devices once a commercial airplane leaves its gate.

2.   Airplanes leave two wakes behind them, disturbances in the air that resemble horizontal tornadoes, one trailing each wingtip.

3.   No airplanes left Otopeni airport on Tuesday.

4.   The airplane had left from the city of Puerto Ordaz in eastern Venezuela an hour before the accident.

5.   That airplane did not leave with the others.