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Spent almost 30 years in Europe. American security was a joke in comparison, and still there was the occasional incident in Europe. Just keep flying, just like you keep driving. Two years ago my wifer and I was going ona tour to Istanbul, leaving from Frankfurt. Just as we were about to take off, they suddenly ordered the evacuation of the plane. We were moved to another terminal and had to be individually searched. Most of the people aboard were Turks except for a handful of Germans and Americans. 6 hours later they let us back aboard the airplane. One of our fellow passengers were the Turkish wife of an American officer. She had a cell phone and called her husband. He determined that there had been a bomb aboard, planted by followers of a Kurdish rebel whom the Turks had just captured. So we got back aboard the airplane and went on to Istanbul, to continue our tour. After all, the airplabe was clean. What are you going to do? Crawl under the mattress and refuse to come out? This is the way the world really is. Life goes on--until it ends. And it will end one way or another. Meanwhile the skies are safer than they were a month ago.

For years many European airports have had machine-gun armed soldiers wandering the concourses. On a short layover in Brussels about ten years ago I was amazed to see this sight. I think it's an idea whose time came years ago but was ignored by the FAA, airlines, and various administrations.

And this would stop future hijackings exactly how? I think that a uniformed, somewhat intimidating law enforcement presence is reassuring to the nervous Nellies, but let's not confuse true improvements in security with knee-jerk feel-good wastes of time and money. Furthermore, it's highly doubtful that anyone will ever try that attack technique again.

My suggestions for improving flight security include arming pilots and flight crew, or flying an armed, sworn law enforcement officer. Pilots already have absolute authority over the airplane and its passengers; there is a reason their title is "Captain", and there is no reason corporate policies should forbid them enforcing their authority. Allowing civilians who have a CCW permit to carry aboard would be good too, but that would require federally mandated reciprocity of permits. Deportation of all known illegal aliens and close government supervision of legal resident and non-resident aliens should be done immediately. Careful screening of all carry-on and checked luggage and cargo for biological chemical and radiological warfare agents or explosives should be undertaken immediately.

Silliness like gassing the passengers, banning carry-on luggage, welding cockpit doors shut, and banning private pilots from flying only serve as psychological fixes, with the sole positive effect of showing the government is "doing something."