Hesitation waltz

BACK in March we described the Civil Aeronautics Board's decision not to ban smoking on all short flights - but only to ban smoking on planes with no more than 30 seats - as a ''CAB half step.''

Had we known what we know now we should have used a different analogy. We would have cited that old big-band-era dance tune: ''First you say you do, and then you don't; and then you say you will, and then you won't.'' Talk about ''undecided''! Last week the CAB was on the verge of changing its March 19 decision. The board was close to banning smoking on all commercial flights of less than two hours. Then, a key CAB board member changed his mind - again. So in-flight smoking is still in place. What's next?

Ironically, businesses and municipalities are moving toward making the environment smoke-free. Apparently the news hasn't caught up yet with the CAB.