TSA - Incompetent idiots, but irrelevant
This blog post owes its existence to this article, which was drawn to my attention by my sister-in-law, the recently published author Jude Burger.
Frankly even before I read it, I knew that nothing in it would be a surprise. The only new information for me was that it is possible to hide a weapon from TSA x-ray machines. But do you know what? I couldn't care less.
Prior to 9/11 (an event which took place on 11/9/01 ;) ), pilots were taught to follow whatever instructions a hijacker gave. The reasoning was that the hijackers wanted to draw attention to their cause, but ultimately wanted to walk out alive. I know this first hand because (although I didn't finish my training) I was at one stage a trainee commercial pilot. With the advent of suicide terrorists this is no longer the case.
9/11 changed this, but almost every security regime put in place since then has been a total waste of time and money. There are exactly two changes since 9/11 which have ensured safety in the skies. The first is the strengthing of cockpit doors. It is now virtually impossible to gain access to the pilots' work space, certainly without invoking the second change since 9/11. The second change since 9/11 is that nobody will ever go along with anything to do with hijackers. Every single person trying to take control of an aircraft is assumed to want to destroy the aircraft and all aboard, so will never have any hope of achieving their objective - passengers and crew alike will do all in their power to overthrow any potential hijackers.
This is why I don't care that the TSA or their equivalents are incompetent. I hate having to deal with these jumped up idiots when I travel, but it doesn't make me concerned about air travel. Air travel is safe because we have sealed the pilots away and because we won't give in to hijackers.
Air travel has always been the safest form of travel. It is now even more so. Happy travels everyone!
Frankly even before I read it, I knew that nothing in it would be a surprise. The only new information for me was that it is possible to hide a weapon from TSA x-ray machines. But do you know what? I couldn't care less.
Prior to 9/11 (an event which took place on 11/9/01 ;) ), pilots were taught to follow whatever instructions a hijacker gave. The reasoning was that the hijackers wanted to draw attention to their cause, but ultimately wanted to walk out alive. I know this first hand because (although I didn't finish my training) I was at one stage a trainee commercial pilot. With the advent of suicide terrorists this is no longer the case.
9/11 changed this, but almost every security regime put in place since then has been a total waste of time and money. There are exactly two changes since 9/11 which have ensured safety in the skies. The first is the strengthing of cockpit doors. It is now virtually impossible to gain access to the pilots' work space, certainly without invoking the second change since 9/11. The second change since 9/11 is that nobody will ever go along with anything to do with hijackers. Every single person trying to take control of an aircraft is assumed to want to destroy the aircraft and all aboard, so will never have any hope of achieving their objective - passengers and crew alike will do all in their power to overthrow any potential hijackers.
This is why I don't care that the TSA or their equivalents are incompetent. I hate having to deal with these jumped up idiots when I travel, but it doesn't make me concerned about air travel. Air travel is safe because we have sealed the pilots away and because we won't give in to hijackers.
Air travel has always been the safest form of travel. It is now even more so. Happy travels everyone!
posted by Alan at 3:12 AM
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