TWA Flight Operations had a slogan. It said “The most important wings on the airplane are on the pilot”. What did that mean? Simply said, it meant that the competence and experience symbolized by those wings meant everything to the safety of the flight. If the Captain and the cockpit crew did their job correctly and professionally, the aircraft, crew and passengers would arrive at their destination safely. No amount of technical gadgetry or computerized assistance makes up for a bad choice by the Pilot in Command. His or her decisions are as important as those of their predecessors, the sea captains of old. They can mean the difference between life or death for all aboard the flight. An early quote from the dawn of manned flight went: “Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect.” That is as true today as it was then. So, when you board an airliner, remember that the cockpit crew have your life in their hands. The quality of the hiring practices of the airline and the training and standards it requires of it’s pilots are literally a matter of life and death.
The tragic events of September 11, 2001, proved two things beyond the slightest shadow of a doubt. First and foremost, that our country was vulnerable to disastrous attacks from terrorist groups who had been allowed to enter our country unmonitored. Second, that the security procedures which protected our transportation systems, whether by air, rail or highway, were in dire need of revamping. We could have gone in two directions. (1) Study and emulate countries which had to deal with those threats on a daily basis, Israel, for instance, or (2) re-invent the wheel. Unfortunately we chose the latter course. The creation of another vast government agency, The Department of Homeland Security, and through it the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) sounded good, and may even have looked good on paper. It is becoming more and more apparent, however, that they are not working as intended. Political correctness prevented the most effective tool, namely “profiling” from being used when assessing threats. For instance, in order not to “offend” anyone, we would treat all passengers “equally” when it came to airport screening. Be it an eighty-five year old Caucasian grandmother, a three year old blond headed toddler, or a bearded twenty something male of apparent Middle Eastern descent, all would receive the same amount of attention from the TSA screeners. On the face of it, this policy is incredibly naive and stupid. 
In the year 793 the Abby on Lindisfarne, a peninsula island on the coast of Northumbria, England, was attacked and plundered by a fearsome group of seaborne raiders. They killed most of the monks who resided in the abby. The “Age of the Vikings” had begun, and lasted until the mid 11th century. It was no wonder that a common prayer of Celtic monks was: “From the fury of the Northmen, O Lord deliver us.” Eventually, the fearsome Vikings became traders instead of raiders, assimilated, and became part of the population of countries from Russia to Ireland.
A popular political pundit has come up with an interesting concept. Has our current “open borders” immigration policy had an unintended effect? Are all the illegal aliens who have streamed across our southern border since the Reagan “Amnesty”, created by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, merely bringing the problems they were escaping from in
967 musical “You’re a good man Charlie Brown” had a scene where the dominating female character, Lucy van Pelt, was pontificating about what she would do when she was “The Queen”. The other “Peanuts” characters had to explain to her that this was 
On July 17th 1996, I was at my home in Albuquerque, NM. As we watched the evening news, regular programing was interrupted by a special bulletin. The picture on the screen showed burning wreckage on the water. I felt like I had been punched in the stomach as I realized it was a TWA aircraft. It was TWA 800, the New York to Paris flight. Obviously, all on board had perished. As the Airline Pilot’s Association Council 024 Chairman, I was the head union representative for all the international TWA pilots, including those flying out of JFK International. When it was revealed that the aircraft disappeared from air traffic control radar as it climbed through 13,000′ the first thing that went through my mind was that it must have been a bomb. Shortly after the NTSB investigation began, the whole process was taken over by the FBI because it was suspected that a criminal act had brought down the aircraft. All normal accident investigation protocols were suspended. The theories went from a bomb on board to the possibility of a shoot down by a rocket. Then, several weeks later, I was flabbergasted to hear the head of the FBI investigators suddenly announce that a mechanical failure had downed the aircraft. Supposedly, a spark of unknown origin had caused residual fuel in the center section fuel tank to explode. This was unbelievable to those familiar with the aircraft! In the following months an explanation was crafted to fit the circumstances of the event. To those of us close to the investigation it was obvious that the fix was in. A coverup was in progress. The question was, why? I have my own theories which I will explain in later posts. One thing is for sure. It 
Over the years I have flown many types of transport aircraft. The “DC” series by Douglas, right up to the DC-9 and it’s derivatives, were wonderful, dependable aircraft. However, I considered the DC-10 to be a death-trap. I wouldn’t fly on one or let my family do so. The design problems with that aircraft and it’s derivative, the MD-11, have been well documented. I flew two Lockheed airplanes. The four engined, piston powered “Constellation” was a classic, one of the most outstanding aircraft ever built. It was surpassed by the Lockheed L-1011 “Tri-Star”, an aircraft frequently confused with the 3 -engined DC-10. The Tri-Star was light years ahead of anything built up to that time, and could safely land in conditions which were virtually “zero-zero”. That meant you needed 
What has happened to our country? In the not too distant past, patriotism was considered a virtue. To a fairly large portion of our population that apparently is no longer the case. Having traveled the world for over 40 years, I have been privileged to visit many beautiful places and meet wonderful people from very diverse backgrounds and cultures. When all was said and done however, I was glad to get back to the United States of America. It is the only place I know where a person can truly start with almost nothing but hope and still achieve success beyond their wildest dreams. However, somewhere along the way we as a nation have lost something, something vital to the concept of “The American Dream”. That something is a sense of responsibility for our actions. Far too many of us have bought into the concept of equal result, not equal opportunity. We are told that, because of our race, ethnic background, religious affiliation, etc, we can’t make it in life without “help” from an omniscient government, who’s sole reason for being is to supply our every need. A quote apparently falsely attributed to Thomas Jefferson says: “A government big enough to give you everything you want, is a government big enough to take away everything that you have.” Even if the great man didn’t say it, he probably would have agreed with the concept. Americans are a generous people. Through most of our history we have always been there to help our neighbors in need. However, we have been willing to give a “hand up”, not a “hand out”. Somewhere along the way we have lost that concept. For the good of all of us we must get it back.
Many years ago, when I was a new airline co-pilot, I was assigned a flight with a very senior captain. He had been flying since before the Second World War, and I was in awe of him, but also considered him to be ancient, being in his late 50’s. There was a thunderstorm in the area, and lightning frequently illuminated the night sky. As we taxied away from the ramp he turned on the weather radar and began scanning the screen. There were several aircraft in front of us awaiting takeoff clearance from the tower and as we finally got to the head of the line the captain said “Tell them we want to pull over and spin around so I can check the weather”. When I protested that we’d lose our place in line, he just said “Do it”. We pulled into the “penalty box”, a wide area at the end of the taxiway which would allow the aircraft behind us to get by. The captain spun the aircraft 180 degrees, so he could now use the radar to examine the departure route. It looked awful. There was a line of thunderstorms just off the end of the runway that would be impossible to avoid. As we watched the aircraft behind us taxi on to the runway and take off, I asked him why we are waiting. He simply said “Son, it’s much better to be down here wishing we were up there, than up there, wishing we were down here!” 
Another bit of wisdom that I learned early in my airline career came from yet another senior Captain. We had flown together all month on the same route, and I had basically memorized the most commonly used approaches to runways at the airports we visited. As we approached JFK in New York, I automatically dialed in the frequency for the ILS approach to runway 4-R, and set the inbound heading on my instrument. The Captain looked over and said “It’s not what you don’t know that gets you. It’s what you know for sure that’s not so!” When I asked what he meant he told me to look at the approach chart and confirm the frequency and heading. That way, if it had changed, I would not be endangering the safety of the flight. After some thought on the matter I realized that he was right. It’s the old “to assume makes an ass out of you and me” adage.