The week’s oddest stories
ASK YOURSELF what Seattle and Texarkana have in common, and the list is likely to be pretty sparse. We can’t think of too much ourselves. Except for two recent episodes with airplanes.
Both the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and Texarkana Regional Airport have had attempts to steal airplanes in the past month, though with different results.
The Seattle airplane thief successfully got his plane off the ground and later died in a crash. The alleged Texarkana airplane thief wasn’t able to get his plane going and is still alive.
What the two stories underscore is an important need in this country for more anti-theft measures at our airports. The Seattle pirate crashed his plane on an island in the Puget Sound, but the airport he took off from is just 14 miles south of Seattle’s city center. Had he been of the mindset to kill innocent people by crashing into a populated area, we could have had another 9/11-style tragedy on our hands.
These weren’t little planes we’re talking about, either. If either one had plummeted into populated areas, the damage would have been terrible.
Neither of these men needed a key to get onboard. The Seattle guy was an employee, so he had access, and he clearly wasn’t deterred from getting on a plane and taking off from the airport. That’s a problem. At a time when the TSA frustrates travelers—and according to ABC News previously had a 95 percent failure rate when it came to detecting smuggled weapons or explosive materials—we have to wonder if we’re focusing too much on the wrong areas of airport security.
At the very least, shouldn’t all airplane doors need keys and locks similar to cars? Maybe controllers in the flight tower should have the ability to remotely shut down an airplane about to take off without permission. And we’re sure people smarter than us could suggest a dozen other security measures to tighten things down, too.
There are still too many holes to patch in airline security. Maybe our betters should stop worrying about how much shampoo we’re carrying and worry more about securing unattended aircraft.