December 27, 2009
Give Some of Those New Airline Safety Regs a Short Half-Life
The TSA has announced new safety measures, both pre-flight and on-board, in the wake of the attempted on-board bombing of the Amsterdam to Detroit flight. While they apply only to international flights bound for the US, some domestic airlines have also implemented them.
ID checks, searches, pat-downs, canine and machine sniffers before the flight? Go for it.
Requiring passengers to stay seated, not retrieve items from the overhead and have no items on one's lap for the last hour of the flight? (What about the natural requirements of flying babies, to cite just one complication?)
There might be a reason to leave these new, on-board safety requirements in place for maybe another two days, to make sure the failed Northwest bomber didn't coordinate several attacks with some partners in terror. To let them stand beyond that would be foolish as they will not prevent a similar incident - "Oh, look, flight lands in two hours; I'd better get the bomb out of my bag now while I can still move around the cabin" - and they'll only serve to needlessly bore and alienate the flying public.
These have virtually nothing to do with safety, and everything to do with covering one's behind. Anyone with a triple digit IQ realizes that there are many, many ways in which a plane can be brought down, or a weapon created onboard. They cannot all be stopped. What can be stopped, to a large degree (and even this is not foolproof) is bringing down a plane using the exact same way it was done, or attempted to be done, before. Because that would cause much greater grief to the political powers-that-be in charge of safety. In reality, these types of measures are pointless, as is me having to take off my shoes from now to eternity because one person once did something with shoes.
Posted by: isilverman at December 27, 2009 4:20 PMMmmm, I recall that Israel has not had a downed plane or attack in like 30 years.
Unlike the US, they don't care if they piss someone off and profile. They check EVERYONE.
Political correctness gave us Hasan...and Obama.
I read a newsline today that said "Obama Claims for Tighter Airport Security"
Oh? Like he would call to loosen it up?
I guess his placating the Open Borders crowd to allow MILLIONS into this country without impedance is safer?
Posted by: Roland at December 27, 2009 5:08 PM"Theater of security" is the term.
Posted by: Dan at December 27, 2009 8:47 PMDon't fly unless you REALLY have to.The airlines will notice a dropoff in business,
Better still,utilize the immigration laws to get rid of suspect individuals without a legal song and dance.