Airport Security Must Be Improved

I know from personal experience that it would have been very, very easy for the terrorists to get knives onto the airplanes that attacked New York and Washington. Every time I pass through airport security and my hand luggage is X-rayed, I am surprised that the technicians say nothing about the Swiss Army knife in my briefcase (or small day-pack when I travel abroad).

While I carry it for the utensils (tweezers, corkscrew, scissors, etc.), in the hands of a terrorist such a pocketknife would certainly be a deadly weapon. Many years ago, when I traveled around the world by air, there were instances when airline staff would take the knife before I got on the plane and return it to me when we deplaned.

Many times I thought to write to appropriate airport authorities to suggest a similar practice here in the United States, but I always concluded that they must know how to deal with the presence of these weapons on planes. I greatly regret that I did not listen to my own fears about this blatant lapse in airport security.

Mark Ryavec

Venice

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Have we not finally arrived at the point that we must reconfigure our aircraft so that they can never be seized and used as weapons against us? We must build or retrofit our fleet of commercial aircraft so that the pilot/copilot/flight engineer are all locked behind steel doors that cannot or will not be opened until the plane arrives at its destination. Any needed items (bathroom, kitchenette) can be provided for the crew so that the opening may never, never occur.

If terrorists threaten to kill any members on board it would be truly unfortunate, but at least the craft would not be turned into a flying bomb capable of such mass destruction. All of our hearts go out to the victims and their families of the plane that crashed in rural Pennsylvania. At least thousands of other innocent people did not have to die with them.

These corrections must be made at once. No expense must be spared for the safety of our nation and our peace of mind.

Eddie Goldstein

Cerritos

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The words “airport security” in the United States are an oxymoron. I am a frequent national and international flier, and my business requires that I carry printed circuit boards in my carry-on. I have yet to be stopped in any U.S. airport for carrying these through the various inspection points. Yet at Heathrow, Schiphol, Ben Gurion and Chiang Kai-shek airports I have been stopped each and every single time--searched and questioned exhaustively until all security personnel were satisfied.

There is no way, no matter how well trained, that security personnel can tell by looking at a TV monitor the difference between innocuous versus more-dangerous electronic systems. It seems that Lockerbie was remembered by the rest of the world but not by us.

Leo Roos

Studio City

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A metal detector at the entrance to the airline of choice is an excellent means of screening. However, a second metal detector should be placed at the gate of any flight being boarded and prepared for takeoff. This will take more time, but it will be well worth the effort.

Guaranteed safety should be the priority at any time, to everyone. Let’s not have another incident like Tuesday, Sept. 11, a day we will never forget or like to see repeated.

Yolanda Graspo

Los Angeles

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Anyone who travels regularly through our airports here in the United States and also travels through European facilities would not be surprised at the constant criticism that has been directed at the Federal Aviation Administration and the poor excuse of a security program we have in this country’s airports.

Europeans employ professional, armed officers at gates and sensitive areas. Here in the United States, we allowed the airlines and their puppet--the FAA--to get away with forcing minimum-wage workers to accept responsibilities that only professional air marshals could be expected to provide. It’s a crime that it took this horrific event to focus our government’s attention on this issue.

George Dinhaupt

Long Beach

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My daughter, a medical student in Boston, takes a flight about six times a year and always “smuggles” Bob, her lizard, on the plane. I’ve commented that surely they must see a lizard skeleton going through the X-ray!

The security personnel to date have not so much as blinked as Bob passes by. This goes for the return trip through LAX security, too. Bob continues to “glow in the dark” at home in Boston.

Connie Young

Huntington Beach