Many of you may be alarmed to hear and read about all the incidences of security problems on board commercial airliners or during the boarding process.

As a person with some inside knowledge of the industry, I want to explain that the news is blown way out of proportion. Yes, we are living in a dangerous time. But because the pilots are reacting to every incident with an “we need to make an emergency landing” call to the air-traffic controllers, does not mean that the skies are any meaner. Because the Captain is afraid to leave the cockpit to investigate an incident that a cabin attendant reports, which prior to the hijacking plot news released from London, would have just been a verbal discussion, does not mean that there are any more problems than earlier.

Everyone is playing it safe and that is good. But when 4 planes return on one day, there are problems. One problem is that people will get disgusted which could lead to an ugly incident and another is that people will get jaded and not really pay attention to real reasons to be alarmed.

The fear of flying is causing a lot of stress which manifests itself as aberrant behavior by the passengers. The fear of flying is causing a lot of stress which manifests itself as cabin attendants having no compassion for the flying public. Put those two together and there will be incident after incident. How many of these recent incidents led to actual arrests? And how many of those arrests led to prosecution? How many of these recent incidents were terrorist related?

Even Friday's arrest of a fool who carried dynamite in checked luggage was not a terrorist issue. What scares me most is, "How did the dynamite get that far?" It was not found until after it had flown. There was dynamite, but it was not a bomb.

While I worked for a major airline for 35 years, there were probably more than a hundred bomb scares called into my airline at the airport that I worked at. No, not 100 bomb threats at the airport where I worked, not 100 at the airline that I worked for, but over 100 at my airline's terminals or hangar at the airport where I worked. It also happened at most other airports and to most other airlines and these nation-wide bomb scares that took place didn't make the news after the first dozen or so.

The airline that I worked for always evacuated the effected building and sent in a search party. Most times, I did not volunteer to be in the search party. There is something unnerving about pushing your hands into areas to search for a bomb, knowing that your hand dislodging the bomb might set it off. But while in management, I was automatically volunteered and I went on my share of searches. After 911, we searched every plane, every day, crawling into the bowels of the planes.

Also there were many times that the police met flights in order to arrest a passenger that had been unruly during the flight. Most times pre-911, the Captain would have settled the passenger down in-flight while the other pilot flew the plane. Captains tend to be much larger and more authoritative than cabin attendants, so therefor they get more respect and the issues didn't develop into a need to call ahead for police to meet the plane to make arrests. But because of the post-911 fear of a hijacker getting into the cockpit when the Captain comes out, the smaller, usually female, less authoritative, less macho (in the eyes of the unruly passenger) cabin attendant is not able to quell the problem and if there is an air-marshal aboard and he breaks cover, there will be arrests and therefor media coverage.

Pre-911, I had to park aircraft on the tarmac to get an unruly passenger off the flight without having the aircraft go back to the gate. I have had to escort police to the meeting place so that they could arrest unruly passengers. I am not talking once or twice, but too many times to remember. None of these stories made the news. Today these incidents would be on the front page of your newspaper and the lead story on the nightly news.

Is it safe to fly? Safer than driving your car to the airport. Even during the 7 day period ending on 911, less people died in commercial airliner crashes than died in traffic accidents. Think about that fact.

This remains true today even though I have flown on a lot of third world aircraft.

Oh, my Lord....I ONCE (and I emphasize ONCE) flew on a foreign airline that shall go unnamed (not even a third world country), and I wanted to kiss the ground when we landed. I swore NEVER to repeat that experience.

Overhead storage doors flew open and banged up and down throughout the flight. The FAs would shut them and they would just pop open again. The whole plane shuddered like it would fall apart from metal fatigue at any moment. The tray tables didn't work, seats didn't recline....it was AWFUL.

Worst of all, I couldn't understand the announcements. I told the friend who was traveling with me, "For all we know, they could be telling us 'The plane is crashing; bend over and kiss your big, over-fed American asses goodbye'."

hehe...believe it or not, my husband has flown approx 1200 times and he has never had an incident. a few unruly, drunk, fun passengers, including the guy returning from vegas with million dollar jackpot check...and his buddy who painted the guys face with lipstick from other passengers when the millionaire was asleep...a few plane changes/flight cancellations following mechanical problems...a family of Hawaiians who refused to stop singing...a lot of boring seat neighbors who were more interested in their own story than anyone else was...LOTS of hits from flight attendants of the same sex ((lolololol))......but no true incidents. we estimate that he will fly approximately 5000 more times in the next twenty years. (if i had a dime for every flight he took by the end of twenty years, i would have $528...maybe i should start a piggy bank...)

I've always been told that if something goes wrong, chanes are it goes wrong during take off or landing. I'll sleep through the rest of the flight, or read, watch a movie, whatever - but I do pay attention to the noises & feelings during take-off. Not nervous, not scared, just aware.

I flew to Belize once (the airline rhymes with "Paca"), and it was one of my 4 bad experiences. I don't know if it's different now, but at the time the airport was a single tiny building made of cinder blocks, in a cleared area of the forest. The runway was a single strip of tarmac surrounded by maybe 50 feet of dirt on either side, then full forest. The entire flight was questionable, but as we landed we watched the wings clipping large branches, first on one side, then the other. Right before we touched down the pilot made a sudden pull up and we were flung back into our seats. Circled, clipped more branches, sudden pull up again. Made a really hot landing on the third try.

About two years ago returning from Las Vegas was a weather-related incident. We hit the worst turbulence I've ever experienced, and I've hit lots of turbulence that made me think the plane couldn't possibly take much more. We were constantly lurching and dropping fast enough for several seconds of that "drop" feeling in your gut. We would literally be suspended out of our seats - thank goodness seatbelts work. drinks were toppling over, etc. We were also banking hard enough that the book the guy behind me was reading toppled into the seats across from him. I remember looking over at a stewardess... she shrugged her shoulders, made a praying sign with her hands, and smiled faintly. Shortly after that the pilot came on and told us we were making an emeregency ascent to try and get out of the turbulence, because if we couldn't get out of it we were looking at a potentially serious situation. And of course, of all the flights, this is the one where the guy next to me was a first-time flyer who sat down, started ordering gin, and screeched like a schoolgorl during take off. THAT makes for a fun flight!

Another time was trying to land in Stockholm. Arlanda International(Stockholm airport) was covered with fog so thick they couldn't see well enough to land, so we went into a holding pattern. Stayed in a holding pattern for a LONG time. Keep in mind this is after 9 hours of non-stop flying out of O'Hare, so we're about 10 hours in the air now. The pilot comes on and says we still don't have enough visibility to land, running a little low on fuel, so we have to make an emergency fuel stop in Finland. It must have been more serious than they let on because when we landed at the airport in Helsinki there were already news crews, fire trucks, and ambulances lining the runway, and they already had a bunch of gurneys out and ready to go.

Funny little note - Arlanda International. In Swedish, "Landa" is land, and "inte" is not/won't (approximately). Landa inte = "won't land".

Aircraft are constructed to be very flexible. They are designed to be buffeted by high winds and turbulance without cracking. The wings are designed to flap; this is why they will not snap off. I just thought I would mention this for anyone who might be interested.

Carlene, your experience with the unnamed airline sounds annoying. What annoys me is a long flight and no leg room. This is the norm now. Add in a screaming baby and I am ready to express air rage. Third world airlines generally buy our old aircraft. The planes may be old but they have decent leg room. This makes Green a lot happier.

I guess I have flown between 3 and 4 hundred times during my life. I have never had an experience with the passenger from hell so far, but I have never received an offer of an upgrade, either. I always catch a virus on my way home. Aircraft air is very dirty. They recycle our used air in order to save on fuel costs.

If you think leg room is a problem, I heard recently that they are thinking of building a plane with a "standing room only" section. Basically people would be multi-belted vertically against up-rights. It would increase the profit margin by lower "seat(?) costs", while allowing for larger loads.

BTW, The latest study has found that airplane air is not as dirty as the previous study, but quite often, the results of these studies has much to do with who paid for the study.:couch2:

While working as a maintenance instructor for a major airline, I saw a film on the 747 in which Boeing pulled up on the wing tips of the prototype until they almost touched each other. A modern plane can probably take more abuse than the passangers can safely deal with.

That airport in Balize does not sound like it meets FAA specs. I would assume that flying planes not certified by the FAA into airports not certified by the FAA is not nearly as safe as flying either in the USA or on US carriers which are certified by the FAA.