PLANE TALK: GOT A QUESTION? ASK THE CAPTAIN!
Do you have a question about airline safety, flight etiquette, jet lag, or air travel in general? Submit your question and look for answers in a future column.
"What about pilot and flight crew security screenings at the airport? Are they a necessary safety precaution or just another hold up?" - Elaine, Boston, MA.
Every time I hear a passenger say that pilots should be searched, I shake my head in disbelief. This is like searching a brain surgeon for knives before entering the hospital’s operating room…where he is to perform brain surgery…yep ….you’ve guessed it….using knives. A pilot with or without guns, knives, grenades, “water pistols”, you name it, can NEVER be stopped if he wants to crash the jet. Crashing is as simple as a flick of the wrist when the aircraft is on short final. So, should we delay pilots and crews at security with xrays and pat downs? No. But there's so much more to this story than what's being reported.
Let’s start with a saying from the wise old man, Ben Franklin: "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -Ben Franklin's Contributions to the Conference on February 17 (III) Fri, Feb 17, 1775
Ok, readers, I’m sorry for not jumping on this topic sooner, but I was soooooo busy with my tie dying and silk screening T-SHIRT business.
HOT ITEM T-shirts that I recommend you NOT wear through airport security:
"TSA: Training Sexual Assault"
“If you touch my junk, I’ll have you arrested.”
There are many more items of this nature already on the street, but you get the idea, I’m sure.
Please, Please, Please …..Remember this!! First and foremost…..anything you say to TSA can and will be used against you….no joke!