Acting Vaguely Normal?
from today’s New York Times:
It will be up to the pilots on those flights to decide whether to restrict passenger movement or the use of blankets or other items often held on passengers’ laps during the last hour of flight. Some airlines are turning off in-flight audio and video navigation programs that let passengers know the status of the flight.
The T.S.A. also issued a last-minute extension to hundreds of pilots authorized to carry firearms under the Federal Flight Deck Officers Program.
One airline captain said that before his flight left a European airport recently, he walked down one aisle of the airplane and back up the other, greeting each passenger.
“I wanted to have a bit of two-way interface about who was on board,” said the pilot, who did not want to be identified because he was not permitted by his airline to speak to the press. “I wanted to see who wanted to make eye contact and see that everyone is acting vaguely normal.”
Who, then, can be saved?
There are no criteria for “acting normal” and in adding “vaguely” the pilot was acknowledging that.
David Brooks made some good points yesterday:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/01/opinion/01brooks.html
Sounds like grammar school. We are all capable of acting “vaguely normal.” Even Terrorists; perhaps especially terrorists.
I’m not sure I fully understand the meaning of the question that’s being asked, but I will say this: I’d feel much safer knowing this guy was my airline captain!
Bob, on my second day of more or less being snowed in, I can’t help but note that this thread reminds me of the opening scenes of “Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay,” which explain how Harold and Kumar get to Guantanamo Bay in the first place–in short, a little old lady thinks Kumar’s a terrorist, and he doesn’t help matters by going into the lavatory–in order to light up a smokeless bong.
Here’s the link to the full airplane scene. Watch at your own risk. It’s, well, not Shakespeare. And it is crude.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv3kztUR2BU&feature=related
Cathleen:
With all due respect to you, and I freely acknowledge how much respect is due you, Hollywood movies are not my idea of how to analyze and evaluate the airline terrorist threat.
Yes, Bob. And I certainly wouldn’t claim that Homeland Security should hire these guys as consultants! Why, I think people thought it was funny (and it will be interesting to see if people STILL think it is funny) is that a) we’d gone quite a while without a serious attempt on terrorism on the plane; and b) it gets at, in an outrageous way, the dilemma of many of us who fly on a regular basis.
I flew back from Rome on the first Northwest flight (and the second or third flight) allowed out after September 11, 2001–it was a Saturday. We were all locked in a waiting room together for hours, before we boarded the flight. We all sat around–and looked at each other. In my own mind and heart, I sensed a tension between being vigilant, on the one hand, and avoiding stereotyping, on the other.
Now–I’m not usually the sort of person that the screeners pay much attention to –in the US. I don’t fit a profile. But that’s not the case everywhere. I was coming back from a conference in Israel, flying by myself–and that does fit a profile–apparently, a terrorist had successfully wooed an Irish girl to carry an explosive on the plane–it was discovered before anything horrible happened. It was quite a detailed interrogation-even asking me why I taught at a law school but was at a conference on bioethics.
I had no idea this was coming–and was pretty shaken up afterwards. I was also blindsided-and was very angry that no one had warned me that this might be coming, which would have made it easier to deal with–I would have kept all receipts in one place, for example. . So–I thought, well, this is how African-Americans and Muslims feel when this happens to them.
The Captain’s action is humanly understandable. Imagine that you have the lives of the passengers very much in your hands. Can it be a bad thing to look into their faces and make contact with them before the flight? He may well have been searching for some hint of trouble, but along the way he also met all the innocent travelers briefly to be in his charge. Not a bad way to set about a difficult job.
The pilot’s action contributes to “situational awareness” on the part of both pilot and passengers, which is essential in responding to an emergency.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situation_awareness has an article on the process.