Ask the Captain: What about the Christmas Day Bomber?

Plane Talk: Got a question? Ask the Captain!

Do you have a question about airline safety, flight etiquette, jet lag, or air travel in general? Submit your question and look for answers in a future column.

by W. M. Wiggins

What's your take on the Christmas Day Bomber? What can be done? - Jim

Jim, it’s now a fact. We all find ourselves being exposed to the ever spreading “cracks” of the security breaches brought to light by that “Underwear Bomber”.

Why did it happen? Oh, Jeeez……please. Obviously, there were gross failures in almost every controlling agency…….the authorities charged for your safety.

It begs the question..

• What color is the “red” flag when a concerned father calls authorities not once, but twice to sound an alarm on his extremely radical son.
• What color is the “red” flag when a passenger buys his ticket with cash.
• What color is the “red” flag when a passenger buys a ONE WAY ticket with cash.
• What color is the “red” flag when a passenger has NO checked luggage.
• What color is the “red” flag when a passenger, wearing only a “T” shirt, boards an aircraft bound for a destination where the weather is well below ZERO Celsius.

If you answer the color is “Green”………green means “GO”…..then you’re good to go…….to get that job at the CIA, FBI, NSA, FAA, TSA, Homeland Security…..yada, yada, yada.

WOW !!!

Finger pointing abounds…. “He did it, She did it, They did it, He didn’t do it, She didn’t do it, They didn’t do it…………” OK, Enough.

What can be done?

I’m going to take a WAG ( Wild A** Guess )  on this one…..

COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE

Wasn’t that THE biggest issue after 9/11 ?.....lack of communication ?  Yes.

So here we are…regrouping….but, as the Tiger might say “Pucker Up Sports Fans…..we might be in for a very long and bumpy ride.”

Answering your questions in our NEW ASK THE CAPTAIN column is, Michael Wiggins, a retired airline pilot who has spent the better part of his life shuttling passengers around the globe. Do you have questions for YourLifeIsATrip's airline pilot? Submit your question and look for answers in a future column.