Here in this country, the airline industry is facing one of its largest strikes in years. On Saturday, over 4,000 mechanics and maintenance workers from Northwest Airlines went on strike. Northwest has been able to keep flying in part because it has hired a team of replacement mechanics. In addition, the unions representing pilots and flight attendants decided not to join the strike. The airline suffered three mechanical failures over the weekend but airline officials denied they were strike-related. On Saturday, a Detroit bound plane had to return to Pittsburgh after reports of smoke in the cabin. Another plane had four tires blow out upon landing in Detroit. And in Guam the nose of a Northwest aircraft hit the runway. No one was hurt in any of the incidents.