Posted on 11/21/2001 11:10:47 PM PST by JohnHuang2
Let the Airlines go bankrupt, for all I care.
I've been posting on this site concerning airport security, have written several letters to the FBI... The gov't still doesn't have a clue. For that matter, the passengers still have their heads up their collective asses.
Let's do the numbers; if it takes 1.5 hours to get to an airport, wait 4.0 hours to go through security, 2.5 hours "wheels up time," .25 hours taxiing time, .25 hours deplaning time, .25 hours for limo pickup, 1.5 hours limo delivery time to domicile... that's a lot of time. When you factor time to/from rental car services that's another collective 1 hour.
The next time I have to go to Pittsburgh, PA, I will drive and write off $.33/mile.
Farther than that, I'll spend the week-end in said city.
I'm fed up with the entire airline industry and their immigrant, illiterate, donut-eating, sloppy "support staff," condoned by the airlines' independent contractors and *mindless* FAA regs.
My brother has been building private heliports all over the World since 1976. To this day, he is confides his frustration towards the bewildering array of morons in the FAA. . Oh Well... signs of the times.
IMOHO
This reminds me of an incident on an overseas military base where fresh fruits were not allowed on a plane going to the States. A lady had a cake with fruit on top. It was OK, the fruit had been cooked with the cake. But a military customs inspector confiscated the cake in error. The fun began when the plane developed mechanical difficulty and the passengers deboarded. The lady came back for her cake and found the customs inspector chowing down.
Is this correct? I sure as hell hope that they are searching the Arabs' checked baggage for bombs . . .
My cynical take on this is that the most likely scenario is that the stasi are getting brownie points on the amount of booty they steal. And, I suspect they're allowed to keep some (or all) of it.
If they don't like the your laptop computer (i.e., battery isn't charged), or don't like the looks of your camera, they take it, and you can't have it back.
Does anyone with two synapses really believe that a $3 thousand dollar laptop computer -- with a dead battery -- will actually go into the dumpster?
I don't. I think it will go home with someone -- and I suspect that the "someone" will quite likely be the stasi that decides to confiscate it.
The only way I will get on an airplane is in a box, if my survivors decide to ship my corpse back to my place of birth to bury it. And since I cannot fathom that occurring, I think it safe to assume that I will never again set foot on an airplane.
Given the uber-rude treatment I endured prior to 9/11 -- and the hair-raising "thrills", such as hearing the pilot say that he thinks he can land the damn thing, after flying in circles for an hour, trying to unjam a stuck slat -- it's no great loss. BTW, he didn't bother mentioning the problem until after the hour or so spent circling (which happened right after he announced that we'd be landing in ten minutes), and even at that, it was obvious that he was lying through his teeth. When the problem first manifested itself (when he announced we'd be landing in ten minutes), the plane went into a sudden, fairly steep bank, which it remained at for the duration of the time until he announced that he thought he could land it. During that time, I heard lots of whirr-whirr, like they were trying to get something working. I thought it was stuck landing gear, but I was wrong.
Why do I say he was lying? Because it was obvious that he couldn't get the slat unstuck. Instead, he retracted the other slat. How do I know that? Because he landed the damn thing at breakneck speed. It flew onto the runway at such an incredible speed that it didn't visibly slow down until about 3/4 the length of the runway. He hit the reverse thrusters the instant the wheels touched the runway, and kept them roaring until the very end of the runway. I looked out the window and watched things on the ground go whizzing by at an incredible clip. When the thing finally slowed down, and he turned left, I saw two rows of firetrucks with lights flashing. The liar then came on the PA again and said don't let that worry you, we told them we didn't need them, but they were having an exercise anyway. Right, and I'm the Queen of England.
That was one of my "adventures". Another time I was on a plane that couldn't get the wheels locked, and was trying to decide whether or not to ditch on a frozen Lake Erie. Did they mention that to the passengers? Nope. My mother told me, after hearing about it on the news. Another time, while climbing after taking off from Newark, while at maybe a thousand feet altitude, the plane made a violent 90 degree bank left, and stayed there for about 30 seconds. I looked across the aisle and saw the ground out the left window, and watched the other passengers turn white. I wondered if the thing would straighten out before it hit the ground (nothing holding it up at a full bank). Again, no comment from the luftfuhrer. My guess is that they were trying to avoid a midair collision. One other time, coming in to land at Denver, I look out the window, and what do I see a few hundred yards to the right? Another plane, coming in to land on the same runway. Oops.
Well, I've made up my mind. Screw 'em. I can't think of anything I'd want to take with me that I'd really want to risk having the vermin steal, so I'll drive. If it's too far to drive, I'll take the railroad. And if the railroad doens't go there, then I guess I don't really need to go there either. Travel is overrated anyway.
Email to Spokane Airport:I am writing to express concern over published reports of theft by security personnel in your airport. In the fragile public relations environment airlines face, it would seem wise to avoid such incidents, and to work diligently to rectify them when they do occur. Certainly in the case within the past week of the silver charm taken from Ann Coulter, a nationally syndicated columnist, I would think you would want to do everything possible to avoid damaging the public perception of your airport.
Please do the right thing. Make sure Ms. Coulter's property is returned to her, or punish the individuals involved. Such an act of integrity would go a long way toward rebuilding your good faith relationship with the American people.
Prove us wrong about you. Thank you for your time.
Respectfully yours,
L. Ross
Pennsylvania
Here's the email address if you're interested: twoodard@spokaneairports.net
And they don't just stop at removing the vegetation.
There's a good chance the owner will go to jail.
The next time you write a column bashing libertarians,
Annie, remember about the 'fascists' at the airport who are
protecting you ass from being hijacked, then have a
thought for the patrons at California state-legal
medical marijuana clinics sent to jail for seeking
relief from their physical ailments.
Ping to others who support Ann.
The picture request has to do with FR's sacred rule: any and all Ann Coulter threads must include pictures. Otherwise the male FR population goes into severe contortions of withdrawal. It's not pretty. ;^)
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