I flew to Dallas Monday morning. When I exited my plane, I could tell that something was terribly wrong. The airport was abnormally quiet, and everyone was standing in the halls, looking at television. I knew that another airplane had crashed.
Our economy is dependent upon people and things flying through the air, 24-hours a day. Tens of millions of Americans fly every year. Nevertheless, before 9-11, we gave lip service to airport and airline security. It is time for us to change before more people die.
Today, a terrorist can buy a ticket, check a bag and never get on the flight. If that bag has a bomb, there is a 90 percent chance that the bomb will get on the plane. Because airlines only inspect 10 percent of checked luggage for bombs. In most other countries, if you don’t get on the plane, your bag stays at the airport. It’s time we do the same in America.
Today, convicted felons can check your identification at airport security gates. Convicted felons can take your bags at the curb and send them directly to the airplane. Convicted felons can take your reservations and give you your tickets. The FAA is working on rules to require background checks on all airport employees, but it will take a year before the checks are done. We need to get criminals out of the airport security business immediately.
We’ve all heard about continuing security lapses since 9-11. Some say the problem is how little we pay airport security people. That’s true, but even if we paid airport security people $25 an hour, they are wasting their time. Because checking people’s driver licenses is meaningless. Counterfeit driver licenses are a dime a dozen. And anyone with a computer and a laser printer can generate false travel documents.
What we must do is replace human checkers with computerized checkers. Then, when the computer detects a problem, let the humans follow up. That way, they will be fresh, they won’t be bored and we won’t need as many of them. Because computers never get bored.
We also need to stop playing political games with known threats to our safety.
Monday, yet another plane crashed. According to the Associated Press, “Large flocks of gulls, geese and other birds abound around Kennedy Airport, which is next to Jamaica Bay and a federally protected wetland. Aircraft at Kennedy have hit 726 birds and other animals over the past decade.”
Why have they not warned us about this danger? Why do we continue to build airports next to lakes and the ocean?
“Most of the incidents at Kennedy happened at Runway 31L, where Flight 587 took off. Pilots using that runway reported 139 incidents, at least 62 of which involved gulls. Other animals included barn owls, larks, sparrows, homing pigeons, a peregrine falcon and a jackrabbit.”
Why wasn’t this runway closed? Why did the New York and New Jersey Port Authority continue to play “chicken” with the lives of airline passengers?
The AP says that “For years the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport, has used cannon-like noisemakers and trained falcons to scare birds away. The Federal Aviation Administration also uses sharpshooters to kill birds. ”
That’s not good enough. It is time for us to either rid airports of birds or redesign jet engine openings so birds and other foreign objects can’t get in. The time for studies, excuses and environmental political correctness is over.
And then we have GE jet engines. According to Time Magazine, “The General Electric-manufactured CF6 engines that power the Airbus A300 and several other large aircraft have raised concerns within the industry for several years.”
Time Magazine says that “There are some 1,400 CF6 engines in use worldwide on planes including Boeing 747s, 767s and Airbus 300s, and there are four thousand CF6-equipped airplane takeoffs each day. It’s a common engine, but it has had problems. In a sternly worded report last December, the NTSB warned that the CF6 engines presented a potentially “catastrophic” threat.
In July 2000, a “Varig Airlines 767 had to abort a takeoff after one of its CF6 engines had what they call an ‘uncontained’ failure, in which the engine partially disintegrated and metal flew out of the engine’s casing. According to reports, there have been 61 uncontained low-pressure turbine failures with CF6 engines since 1993. Last September, a US Airways CF6 engine undergoing a maintenance check blew apart and scattered parts across the tarmac and even into a nearby river.”
How can an engine that had 61 uncontained low-pressure turbine failures still be certified for use?
In the past, airlines and the government deflected arguments that we should toughen airline security with “we don’t want to inconvenience the passenger” excuses. Well, nothing is more inconvenient than dying.
Let’s stop making excuses. Let’s protect the flying public … period. If that’s inconvenient for some, they can buy their own airplane or take the bus.
