The recent crash at Lexington coupled with the foiled Bojinka-two plot in England has caused a good number of folks to question whether commercial air travel is really worth it these days. The headlines are riddled with negative stories about flying, like this rant about handheld GPS units being allowed onboard flights (they might allow the jihadist to open the emergency door and jump out over a major city, I guess?) while TSA officials trifle over contact lens fluid and gel deoderants. We even have a story about an athlete losing her 8000 dollar artificial limb because she couldn't carry it onboard anymore.
Is such stuff just sensationalistic pap designed to sell papers, or do we really have problems? Yes and yes.
It's unlikely a fragile aviation industry already financially strained can sustain this level of nonsense much longer. How long before we hear the calls for a return to government regulation? Is this a good idea?
Not really. Take a look at the regulated part of the system--the FAA. In the Lexington crash the FAA union seems satisfied to let the media make an issue out of the fact the tower controller had only slept two hours before his/her midnight shift after getting off a 6:30am to 2:30pm shift the day prior, as if it were due to draconian measures taken by Bushitler appointees in DC. But guess what? Most of the these schedules are agreed upon by the union.
"Quick turnarounds" aren't always forced by management, often times they are embedded as a fixed part of a controller's work week per union agreement. The thinking goes like this--if the 40 hour week can be condensed by beginning with an evening shift then quick-turning through all the shifts to end your week on a mid shift, that maximizes the weekend. Regulation would do nothing to curb the potential for such zombie-inducing schedules.
Whether re-regulation would improve airline safety is hard to say. Airlines guaranteed a profit on every route they fly would seem less likely to defer maintenance, however when people know there's no incentive to improve nor reason to fear losing their jobs, they don't necessarily go the extra mile.
Bottom line, the public needs to be aware of their choices. While a return to regulation might be a panacea for aviation workers the traveling public would get the shaft. Fares under regulation would rise, and we'd lose the innovation and creativity of airlines like Southwest. Regulation would also further balloon the federal bureaucracy. If you're still wondering if that's good or bad, just use the creation of TSA as a benchmark.
The hard choice might be to relax the restrictions to reasonable levels and let the chips fall where they may. We can't have it both ways and remain within a capitalistic system. If nothing else it would make a statement to the terrorists regards our resiliancy.
update--had time wrong on previous post..sorry -Ed
No comments:
Post a Comment