Plastic Bug
12th Sep 2001, 06:39
So I woke up this morning to the clock radio. I was off duty today and Honey was going to switch off the radio on her way out the door. I mumbled to her to leave it on. I like listening to the morning news half asleep.
After she left, there was a report that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. That got my full and undivided attention.
Figuring that some yahoo looking at the Statue of Liberty managed to plant his plane in the WTC, I clicked on the telly expecting to see the tail of a Cessna 150 sticking out of the building.
As I looked at the picture on the screen, trying to imagine how a Cessna 150 could make such a large hole in the tower, I saw another plane, a large plane, impact the other tower.
That’s when I knew life, as we know it, was over.
An hour later, both of the towers were down.
I grew up watching those towers get built.
How did this happen?
There are a lot of talking heads pointing fingers right now. CIA should have known, DIA should have known. Some snitch somewhere should have dropped a dime. Irrelevant. It happened and we are to blame.
We have been witness to a degradation of standards for some time. Maintenance standards, crew rest standards, security standards, training standards. Fill in the blanks Gents.
The industry is no longer run by “Airplane People”. Money people run it and if something can be done to enhance the passengers’ comfort, well then, that is the priority.
Minimum ground time? Pax love it, they don’t have to wait. Why wait at the gate to board your flight alone? Heck, bring the whole fang damily!
Oh, gotta feed all those people we now let through security, so lets move all the concession stands inside the security area!
What does that give you? Oh, nothing really, just that for example, instead of one security checkpoint screening 500 pax for 12 gates, you get 500 pax plus their friends.
Do these people arrive two hours early as recommended? No. They arrive 5 minutes early. This builds in a “rush” factor (can’t have flights delayed due security backlogs, can we?).
Then the complacency. Little things get through. And now….
Box Cutters. It now appears the bastards who took out the WTC had box cutters. They are little straight edge razors in a slipcase. Little 1 inch by 3-inch metal thingies. Security guy hustling people through, is he/she going to notice something like that? Heck, I don’t know if I would see that!
We need a reset. People need to remember that flying is a serious business and that yes, Virginia; Airplanes really do leave the ground.
Aviation is not a poor man’s sport. If you want to fly, as a passenger or as an operator, it costs money. The current status of the industry, doing everything cheaper than the other guy, will kill us.
This does not diminish the sacrifice of the Crews aboard the ill-fated craft. I am sure they did what they had to do under the circumstances. I am fairly certain that the crew of the airplane that went down in Pennsylvania INTENTIONALLY ended their lives in order to protect a greater populace.
Fair Winds and Following Seas
Tears
Anger
Vengeance
Peace
PB
After she left, there was a report that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. That got my full and undivided attention.
Figuring that some yahoo looking at the Statue of Liberty managed to plant his plane in the WTC, I clicked on the telly expecting to see the tail of a Cessna 150 sticking out of the building.
As I looked at the picture on the screen, trying to imagine how a Cessna 150 could make such a large hole in the tower, I saw another plane, a large plane, impact the other tower.
That’s when I knew life, as we know it, was over.
An hour later, both of the towers were down.
I grew up watching those towers get built.
How did this happen?
There are a lot of talking heads pointing fingers right now. CIA should have known, DIA should have known. Some snitch somewhere should have dropped a dime. Irrelevant. It happened and we are to blame.
We have been witness to a degradation of standards for some time. Maintenance standards, crew rest standards, security standards, training standards. Fill in the blanks Gents.
The industry is no longer run by “Airplane People”. Money people run it and if something can be done to enhance the passengers’ comfort, well then, that is the priority.
Minimum ground time? Pax love it, they don’t have to wait. Why wait at the gate to board your flight alone? Heck, bring the whole fang damily!
Oh, gotta feed all those people we now let through security, so lets move all the concession stands inside the security area!
What does that give you? Oh, nothing really, just that for example, instead of one security checkpoint screening 500 pax for 12 gates, you get 500 pax plus their friends.
Do these people arrive two hours early as recommended? No. They arrive 5 minutes early. This builds in a “rush” factor (can’t have flights delayed due security backlogs, can we?).
Then the complacency. Little things get through. And now….
Box Cutters. It now appears the bastards who took out the WTC had box cutters. They are little straight edge razors in a slipcase. Little 1 inch by 3-inch metal thingies. Security guy hustling people through, is he/she going to notice something like that? Heck, I don’t know if I would see that!
We need a reset. People need to remember that flying is a serious business and that yes, Virginia; Airplanes really do leave the ground.
Aviation is not a poor man’s sport. If you want to fly, as a passenger or as an operator, it costs money. The current status of the industry, doing everything cheaper than the other guy, will kill us.
This does not diminish the sacrifice of the Crews aboard the ill-fated craft. I am sure they did what they had to do under the circumstances. I am fairly certain that the crew of the airplane that went down in Pennsylvania INTENTIONALLY ended their lives in order to protect a greater populace.
Fair Winds and Following Seas
Tears
Anger
Vengeance
Peace
PB