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?

Robert P. Imbelli, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, is a longtime Commonweal contributor.

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