Friday, April 20, 2007

The more I think about it, the more ludicrous the airport security seems.

Think about it. How far would anyone get with a box cutter or a nail-file? I'll bet every American has thought to himself or herself, no way is anyone going to take over any plane they're in. I'm sorry, but I think than anyone who tried to take over a plane would be torn limb for limb the second the words came out of his mouth. I'm quite certain that no pilot or stewardess would allow themselve to relinquish control.

We've all done the math. We've all made that decision in our minds. We've all realized that we would have to make the sacrifice.

Hell, that trick didn't even last through the first day it was used. The passengers of flight 93 weren't successful in taking the plane back over, but only because they had already relinquished control. And even in their failure, they were successful in keeping the plane from being used to horrible ends.

It's the classic strategic mistake of fighting the last war.

We are spending billions trying to avoid something that I think most of us would simply never allow to happen.
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5 comments:

RDC said...

While I tend to agree with the reaction. It is hard to be certain how people will react. Take for example the recent VT shootings. The reaction of almost everyone was to try and hide or flee. If they could not flee, they tried to hind under desks. As far as any reports I have read noone tried to attack the killer. Even when you had multiple people in a class room, warned by shots in other rooms, the most anyone did was to try an block the door. Noone tried to position themselves in such a way around the door to try and attack him in any way.

On a plane where the weapon is a knife with a single hijacker you are probably correct, now that 9/11 occured there is far more motivation to attack then to sit and wait. In the case of multiple hijackers or if they were armed with something more powerful than a knife, a situtation where the first person or even several are likely to die immediately I am not so sure.

I would rather deal with security. My approach is to always show up with plenty of time to spare and a couple of good books. For major airports I get there 2 hours before flight time. At Redmond, depending upon the time I show up any where from 1-1.5 hours prior.

April 21, 2007 at 10:21:00 AM PDT
Duncan McGeary said...

Guns are a whole nother dimension.

It just seems to me that the risk-cost benefit ratio is all out of whack when it comes to small implements.

A huge, costly (in time and space and manpower) for a risk that has probably already passed.

Seriously, can you envision any group taking over a plane boxcutters (or even knives?) who wouldn't be confronted? Can you imagine the pilots giving over control of the plane?

April 21, 2007 at 11:06:00 AM PDT
RDC said...

Single person, probably not.


A group of 5 or 6 who are trained yep they could probably still do it. The pilots may not turn it over, but they could still cause a crash.

April 21, 2007 at 9:04:00 PM PDT
Jason said...

People, particularly in groups, are incredibly stupid and panicky. I'd be disappointed if someone with a boxcutter managed to pull it off, but I don't think I'd be entirely surprised.

All this airport security hooplah is like a bandaid for a bullet-wound. It doesn't fix anything, but it looks like someone's trying.

April 21, 2007 at 11:44:00 PM PDT
dkgoodman said...

Careful what book you bring. Check out this airline security nightmare!

April 22, 2007 at 8:53:00 PM PDT

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