Terrorism aside, the FAA has made moves recently to remove certain safety features from airplanes. One of those features involves a significant lost of cabin pressure when a hole is discovered in the aircraft fuselage. When a puncture in the fuselage occurs, oxygen masks will drop, allowing passengers to still have breathable air in the cabin, including lavatories, until they can get to an altitude in which air is sustainable. However, this does involve that air is sucked out of the aircraft, and people will have to react quickly in order to not suffocate.
However, the FAA has ruled that it is a safety risk for people who are in the lavatories to have use to an air generator for sustainable oxygen. In a quote from the website for Detroit's NBC affiliate station, WDIV:
"If you have a rapid decompression and you're in the bathroom, there's a good chance you won't survive it, and the rest of the airplane will," the airline industry source said.
Now, yes, this is a small feature that I am complaining about, but at the same time, that is not necessarily true. Airline lavatories are very small, confined spaces, with possibly only one door for storage inside. They're designed for maximum use in a confined space for safety while using them. Unlike in the cabin's passenger sections, the lavatory is relatively safe in terms of bouncing around. The exit door to the lavatory might not be the strongest, but you are able to stay relatively well positioned inside the room.
So, to remove the oxygen mask and generator from the lavatory seems like a major waste of time. Some might say that "it's only one life lost, what is the cost of only one life vs. many on the plane?" But I can only respond that all life is priceless, young or old. At the same time, looking at the size of most of these lavatories, how hard could it be to survive if the person inside had oxygen to support themselves.
At the same time, the article mentions that flight attendants are trained to assist people during a rapid loss of cabin pressure. However, moving during this time is extremely unsafe, since their would be a vacuum occurring inside the cabin. Small objects have the potential to fly, as well as potentially sucking humans out of the plane if the hole was large enough. At the same time, pilots have to make radical altitude changes in order to find breathable air and pressurize the cabin, which gives a person inside the lavatory only 5 or 6 minutes to survive before suffocation.
Now, besides removing safety features on airplanes, recently we've had a small breakdown in airport security. At New York City's JFK Airport, a 30 year old man managed to get through airport security lines with a stolen ticket and passport. Now, before I cry foul here, let me put it into small perspective. Since September 11th, there have been 6 terrorist attempts involving airlines in the United States. A couple of them have come dreadfully close to completion. But heroism from law enforcement officials, airline crews and passengers have saved lives.
The last time I was on an airplane, going through an airport felt like it was as close as I wanted to get to going through a prison lock-down. Getting my ticket at check-in was fine, but the minute people got up to the metal detector, the TSA screeners were on them like white on rice. Driver's Licenses were triple checked against tickets, people were sent multiple times through metal detectors, I would be afraid to try and pass anything that didn't go through their regulations.
The perpetrator of the JFK incident, Ronald Wong, managed to actually steal a ticket from a passenger and get through security with it. Without many details of the incident, I can't really say much on it. But, I do know that people make mistakes, but a person with a job as important as a screener at the Transportation Security Authority need to be on constant alert. Something as simple as a name being completely different with a different address need to be on alert. Honestly, knowing that one person who may not be a threat to anyone can do this easily, makes me afraid for people who genuinely want to do harm. Terrorism is a real thing, people, and it's all of our jobs to pay attention.
As an officer of the law, whether you're in security of an airport, or protecting our streets, it is your job to uphold standards. It shouldn't matter how fast the line is moving as long as people are getting to their locations on-time and safe. If a person is unable to fulfill that requirement, then they shouldn't be allowed to work in that position.
Now, as you finish this post, you're probably wondering, "Why is this post not as interesting?" Honestly, i'm going to say, this week hasn't been so controversial. A lot of the news this week has been updates. While yes, there have been new murders, new rapes, new drug busts, there hasn't been a whole lot of controversy. If I haven't written about it already, it's a topic I don't want to touch. I'll admit to it. But, if you read through this, thank you very much, and hopefully next week brings an article that has more emotion to it
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