Long ago I got my pilot's license. I learned a simple rule. It's better to be down here wishing you were up there than up there wishing you were down here. And so each and every time I flew I did everything necessary to ensure my aircraft was safe, including following a pre-flight checklist.
I'm still a frequent flier, but now it's on commercial airlines. I still want to know that everything has been done to ensure the safety of my aircraft. Each time, every time. No excuses. The sad fact is, among the dangers of flying these days is the possibility that someone will try to bring down your plane. Only a technical malfunction, perhaps Divine Intervention, kept a Nigerian suicide bomber from blowing up a Northwest Airlines jet on Christmas Day.
Anyone who flies knows our system of aviation security is at best inadequate and at worst a joke. Little old grandmas take off their shoes and endure pat-downs while young bombers buy one-way tickets with cash, don't check luggage and board with impunity. It's time to start profiling at the airport. Every airport. Every flight. No excuses. Profiling based on logic, experience and careful training, not necessarily on race, religion or skin color. And for any of you who get your panties in a bunch over my saying that, let me remind you of two things. First, it works. Israeli airliner El Al has proven it. Click here to see how they do it and how everyone else should do it. And second, though I was born in the Midwest and have lived most of my life here in Louisiana, I am of Mediterranean descent. So I may well be the guy in line who gets the extra scrutiny. You know what? It's OK with me.
It's time we as a nation grow up. Profiling is almost always the wrong thing to do, but when it comes to ensuring the safety of thousands of captive travelers, it should be on every pre-flight checklist. And anyone who gets their panties in a bunch should just get over it.
Truly effective airline security requires proven technology...that includes full body scans...and profiling to target the terrorists themselves.
Remember, it's better to be down here with your panties in a bunch than up there with a terrorist with a bomb in his panties.
Cartoon courtesy Mike Lukovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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