Re: "Thinking Level" of FAA

["John S. Denker" <jsd@MONMOUTH.COM>]

At 09:59 AM 9/17/01 -0700, Paul O. Johnson wrote:
> The Israeli airline is said to have the most effective security in the
> world.

They do.

> Perhaps President Bush and his team should take
> a page out of their book on combatting terorism.

I assure you the FAA has been talking with El Al for years and years --
concerning security and other matters.

  0) Many aspects of the El Al approach are sensible and praiseworthy.

However, their approach cannot be transplanted to the US quite as easily as
you might think.

  1) Israelis fly very infrequently.  They have virtually no domestic
aviation.  When they do fly it is a long trip.  So when they are told to
show up 3 hours before flight time, the burden seems manageable.  Contrast
this with the US, where the domestic aviation sector is 10 times the size
of the international sector.  Showing up 3 hours early for the one-hour
shuttle flight from NYC to Boston rather defeats the purpose.

  2) The El Al approach involves a large component of racism.  If it is
not obvious whether you are a Jew or not, you can expect to be asked.  A
colleague of mine was offended by this question, and responded by pointing
out that not too long ago they sorted Jews from non-Jews and sent one of
the groups to the gas chambers.  The security screener was not amused.  In
the end they decided she was a Jew, so it was OK, but she nearly missed the
flight.

============

In general:  In security, as in many other areas:  Be careful what you ask
for.  You might get it.