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United States Pilots Association |
Having endured an attack committed by a buzzard against my airplane several months ago, I am very much in favor of the new reporting procedures instituted by the FAA in an attempt to get a handle on these occurrences. Airports around the country are being told to submit every known incident involving birdstrikes and ground borne animals (deer etc.). A recent article on Yahoo cited airline strikes at 12,000 feet ASL, as well as many away from airports and populated areas. Hopefully someone will come up with a system to thwart many of these bird vs airplane incidents.
The Christmas day attempted bombing of a Northwest (Delta) Airbus by an Islamic terrorist could have killed almost three hundred people in the plane and untold numbers on the ground. The failures of our government to weed this idiot off the plane will be investigated and probably cleaned up before we really find out where the failure lay. Suffice to say the President did not seem to care enough to get involved until days after, and the head of the airline security for TSA, "was in constant touch by cell phone from the ski slopes in Colorado." I have been saying for years that TSA provides a "Feel Good Mentality" to airline passengers, but really is unable to render any major assistance in the area of airline and major airport security. It is simply a newly formed (2001) government funded employer that reminds me of the gang that couldn't shoot straight.
Let us take some lessons from El Al--the national airline of Israel. They interview every passenger several times (by different people) before issuing a boarding pass. Their security is the best in the business. Political correctness is not in their lexicon. When a passenger pays cash, for a one way ticket, has no baggage, and is on several no fly lists, he simply will be refused passage and probably will be arrested.
The giving of civil arrests under criminal statutes is a travesty. These people are sworn enemies of our country. They should be tried in military tribunals and dealt with as combatants, not criminals. Can you imagine giving Miranda rights to battlefield combatants?
What will really happen here is what is happening now. President Obama--for all of his talk about civilian trials--is exterminating our enemies by using pilotless drones to rocket and bomb the enemy. I agree with this method. I say, do not give the people in Gitmo civil trials while we are killing their compatriots and civilians in droves. Nobody ever won a war with diplomacy. What do you think our soldiers etc. will do when encountering a combatant? Read him his rights? You draw your own conclusion.
There was a "security breach" at Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey, caused by an overeager male wishing to escort his girlfriend to her gate for a flight. He ducked under a rope and was spotted by someone who reported the movement to TSA. TSA shut down the entire terminal for many hours while the boyfriend went home. The TSA employee assigned to this area was on his cell phone and did not see the breach.
My opinion is that eventually the onerous security mandated by beaurocrats in government will eventually kill off the legacy airlines entirely. We all need to be observant and willing to jump in as that gentleman did on Northwest. Government cannot protect us.
Steve Uslan, President
United States Pilots Association