Salon :: Tech & Business

Ask the Pilot: Why are pilots and flight attendants paraded through metal detectors, but not cleaners and caterers? Plus: Phantom hijackers revisited, and ominous news for your summer travel plans

We've been on an airport riff for a couple of weeks now, so let's keep going. Before getting back to the fun stuff, however, time out for a more sobering, if aggravating rash of news stories. <P>First comes the alleged plot to "blow up" JFK <a href="http://dir.salon.com/topics/airports/">airport.</a> Never mind for a moment the plausibility of the scheme -- the incident brings with it certain overtones of last year's liquid bomb farce -- it nonetheless has everyone yammering again about airport <a href="http://dir.salon.com/topics/security/">security</a> and how we need more of it. One of the charged conspirators is a former airport worker, and critics are calling for the increased scrutiny not of passengers, but of industry employees. <P>Frankly, and maybe you're surprised to hear me say so, this is a good idea. Or, it could be a good idea, provided the Transportation Security Administration has sense enough to figure out which groups of workers it ought to concentrate on. Considering the agency's track record, that's a shaky proposition at best. <p>...</p><img src="http://feeds.salon.com/~r/salon/tech/~4/123089792" height="1" width="1"/>

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