Afraid to fly since 9/11?

Stephen Kramer, Cartoonist ^ | 9/27/03 | Stephen Kramer

[gocartoons]

Are you afraid to fly since 9/11? Think twice before you get on this airplane...

Maybe they should make this cartoon into a movie?

[Capt_Hank]

I just flew down to Florida from Philadelphia. I had some tools packed in my luggage, in order to work on my boat. Got to the boat, opened the suitcase to retrieve my "dremel tool". Case there, but the tool was missing along with my digital multi-meter. I filed a claim with US Airways. Let's see how long that will take. I'm trying to find out now, how many people are being ripped off by the TSA.

[Centurion2000]

Not afraid to fly at all. I love flying. I just won't surrender my rights and my dignity to the airport gestapo to get on one.

[inPhase]

REPOST:
YoungKentuckyConservative wrote:
I fear the TSA and being strip-searched while an Arabic Male betwee the ages of 20-30 skips through the line, unchallenged. Thus, I do not fly anymore. Until the government and the airlines clean up their Politically-Correct little world, I'll support the car rental agencies.

Thanks, I have to put up, or be arrested, I have to fly.

[Squantos]

Afraid.......No !
Angered.......Yes !

Stay Safe !

[inPhase]

that's a thought but nope.

An article I read long ago by Eliot Abrams.

[Denver Ditdat]

We replace our cars with new ones every few years, but airliners just run those planes till they crash. No thanks.

If cars were built and maintained to the same standards as aircraft, you'd buy your first (and only) auto at age 16 along with your driver's license and leave it to your grandchildren when you died at age 80.

Airline maintenance is an intensive, ongoing process and bears no resemblance to the typical "Gee, I just opened my hood for the first time this year. What's that 710 cap for?" soccer mom car service schedule.

[ErnBatavia]

Also, I'm not going to fly again until my Right to fly armed is recognized.

The problem with that is the mix you'd get if you were like the fella a few posts before yours that needs a half dozen stiff ones before boarding.

An armed drunk tottering around a plane with my ass on it? No thanks!

[Gorzaloon]

I believe that it was in 2002 when there were ZERO fatalities on commercial aircraft. Not sure if that was the USA or the world, though. It's very safe.

(humor)

Well.YEAH, since everybody stopped flying at the end of 2001! :-)

[winker]

Ever since I had two close calls in the Air force; I have flown on occasion; maybe 3 or 4 times since 1970. I don't have what I would consider a phobia about it but the thought of flying now is something I don't long for because the novelty of flying wore off long ago with me.

If I had to get somewhere in a hurry, I would not hesitate to saddle up and go! My infrequent flying excursions have a negligible effect on the industry. The public phobia about flying comes from the media sensationalizing the subject when something bad happens. I am not saying that ignoreing it altogether will make tragic circumstances disappear either! The airline industry like all big business ventures is profit or possibly greed driven and the board of directors generally only care about the bottom line.

There are fixed costs involved in operating a large and expansive business like an airline. Expendable items like fuel,food,replacement parts engines etc. have to be included because things break and wear out. Passengers ultimately have to choose to use your services and perceptions carefully play into a carrier's longevity. Media critics many times fail to verify their sources before reporting on things like crashes when they occur and in many cases they voluntarily or ignorantly make assumptions that may or may not apply.

Do I enjoy flying ...NO! The flying experience is in my estimation a voluntary game of russian roulette not induced by the media or anything else conspiratorial in nature. Its just that since 9/11 none of us here will ever view things in the same way before it happened. The industry may never fully recover its financial footing partly due to acknowledged bad management in the industry and partly because our trust has been shattered and we never reall know who might have been missed on a pre-boarding inspection at the terminal.

It doesn't take a brainiac to tell you things are different nowdays; its a calculated risk these days because you really don't know who is sitting next to you!

[Mulder]

An armed drunk tottering around a plane with my ass on it? No thanks!

Okay. Keep the drunks off the planes.

I still don't see what that has to do with *my* Right to keep and bear arms.

[Mulder]

Let the 2nd amendment come into play everywhere, including on the airplane, and it is no longer a danger that terrorists could hijack an airplane to be able to kill thousands.

A handful of armed Americans could have easily prevented 9/11.

[hadaclueonce]

The key to flying post 9/11 is to carry a hip pack. Send it through seperate. In that hip pack put your keys, and everything metal in it. Along with a couple good paperbacks. I am talking belt buckles, all your change, anything metal.

Once on the Plane, the hip pack with the paper backs will make a good defense against someone with a "box cutter" that "Barney Fife" at the gate did not find.

It is sad that they are making the "security of the planes" an upward position path for they persons that use to bag our groceries at the food store.

I do not mean this as hostile. I am just speaking my mind.

[Bon mots]

Afraid to fly?
Nope.

Afraid to crash?
Well...

[TwilightXi]

I still don't see what that has to do with *my* Right to keep and bear arms. Urgh. I'd never want to get on a plane knowing that anyone who was on there was armed. Somehow, the idea of people carrying guns into a suffocating metal tube rocketing 30,000 feet in the air for several hours while I'm in it isn't appealing. Perhaps if security was doing their job correctly, no one would have weapons, hidden terrorists included!

[Mulder]

I'd never want to get on a plane knowing that anyone who was on there was armed.

Well, pilots flew armed for decades before the 1980s, and Federal agents and even local cops in some situations have been able to fly armed for decades.

Do you have a problem with that, or do you just have a problem with us serfs exercising that Right?

Somehow, the idea of people carrying guns into a suffocating metal tube rocketing 30,000 feet in the air for several hours while I'm in it isn't appealing.

Do have the same problem with citizens carrying guns in a crowded restaurant or shopping mall?

Perhaps if security was doing their job correctly, no one would have weapons, hidden terrorists included!

Yeah.. disarm everyone except for the government. That did wonders in Cambodia and Germany.

[Timesink]

Post-9/11 I don't have these problems anymore. No more flying, ever.

Then can I have your xanax? ;)

[Timesink]

Airline maintenance is an intensive, ongoing process and bears no resemblance to the typical "Gee, I just opened my hood for the first time this year. What's that 710 cap for?" soccer mom car service schedule.

A soccer mom's favorite drink:

[tiamat]

I like your ideas!

Tia

[tiamat]

Bon mots wrote:

Afraid to fly?
Nope.

Afraid to crash?
Well...

*******************************************

My daughter's godfather was Special Forces. He jumped out of a lot of planes during the 70s.
Despite all of that, he is not a "good" flyer. TAKE OFF is not a problem . He gets off on the speed and the rush.
LANDING on the other hand, IS an issue. He gets very whiite-knuckled.
First time we all took a family trip, I noticed and asked him : " Are you okay? "
His reply:
" Just not used to landing! Haven't had a chance to practice THAT as much! "

Tia

[Big Giant Head]

I took my first flight toward my Private Pilot ticket on Sept. 10th 2001. Grounded for two weeks after.

Just damn!

But I continued on and am still flying. But I haven't flown the big airplanes since '95. I don' fear it at all, just can't afford it. Plus I kinda like my own hands on the yoke.