The old man in the train traveling over the Scottish Highlands was tearing up his newspaper into little squares and throwing them out the window. When asked what he was doing that for he replied "It is to stop lions from attacking the train, of course!"
"But lions don't attack trains in Scotland", he was told. " I know, effective isn't it?"
I happen to think that pieces of newspaper don't make us safer in the air either, but obviously many of you do.
Airport security is only one of the defences, and we are placing too much reliance on it, especially when it is 90 percent ineffective (my opinion). All it does is harrass the passengers and crew, and by making us congregate around security we become a better target. It also fans the panic many persons have when they get near the airport, and in turn that damages the airline business, which costs us jobs and financial security.
El Al does have intrusive security and for good reason, but I am not advocating we go that way either. I use them to point out that at least they have thought about it and developed procedures that work, proactive rather than the reactive knee-jerk response of the rest of us. If we put as much effort into thinking about what is needed as we do in hassling old ladies we could have a good system. We need a security that is able to step aside and allow for a free movement of the passengers, with no bottlenecks and no congregating. A watchful eye looking for suspicious characters and taking action only when experience suggests. An intelligent approach, if that is possible.
The real threat is in the air, and it is simple to make that safe:
1. Aircrew should, on receipt of a hijack alert from the cabin, lock and bar the door, cut off all communications with the cabin (to avoid pressure through threats), declare an emergency and land at the nearest suitable airport where the ground authorities can take over.
2. Cabin crew should protect the flight deck door, be watchful and report any problem promptly to the flight deck, but be careful not to overreact. They should be prepared and properly armed through training and, maybe, tasers or such and use these when necessary. If a hijacking occurs, let the flight deck know, try to regain control of the cabin and prepare the passengers for an emergency landing and emergency evacuation.
But I guess there are as many opinions out there as there are readers..