Back in the early 70s I was walking across the ramp in Lagos Nigeria towards a Pan Am 747. On that occasion some tourist took out their camera to photograph a family member in front of the 747 they were about to go aboard. The few isolated soldiers stationed around went bonkers; yelling and waving their weapons at the poor sod. I have spent a significant part of my life living in “developing nations” and I know what was going on (culturally, directive by order-etc); yet the military response was completely unseemly.
I think it is beyond tragic that in some places to simply listen to ATC communications is a crime and taking a picture out of an airplane window leads to similar threats of prosecution and incarceration. One of the greatest professional joys for me was to take people on their 1st flight and have the opportunity to show them the flight deck (preferably in flight). Every aspect of aviation fascinated me as a youngster and I was “hooked” at an early age.
We in the United States have gone absolutely crazy. In the news now is a case of an Alaska State legislator (high ranking elected government representative) who is travelling by sea now because she refused an intrusive public physical search of her prosthetic (breast cancer survivor) device at the airport.
Alaska state rep objects to airport search demand
I am shocked that the American public tolerates (I fly almost exclusively domestic) groping and virtual strip searches and bothers to fly any more.
So here we are “hammer the lawbreaker”, “throw the book at them”, threaten them with prosecution, “their electronic device could cause the avionics to fail at a critical time and crash the airplane”, “it’s the law”, “follow the regulations” and
everything is a
security threat…… WHAT IN THE WORLD HAVE WE BECOME? My own nation now reminds me of the worst of what I saw on that hot and muggy ramp in Lagos Nigeria decades ago; out of control and unreasonable goons behaving poorly.
It isn’t going to get better, and I am not going to “solve” the problem(s). It’s a shame that I am looking forward to finishing my career and never going to the airport again (if I can help it). Meanwhile, better put the camera away it’s for all of our safety…….makes me want to
.