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New airline idea: goal is to beat the odds
Columnist Jeremy Clarkson, at The Sun, has come up with a brilliant airline concept: take it easy, and play the odds. He laments the fact that it takes "about six years" to check in and considers the security process to be troublesome. They won't even let you keep your toothpaste!
Of course, we have all this security in place for a reason. There are many threats to safety ... and it's not just terrorism. We've had smokers on Saudi flights, and drunk passengers remain a perpetual problem. Yet, what are the odds of being killed by international terrorism? Clarkson puts it at about the same as drowning in a bathtub. Since the 1960s, he continues, eating peanuts and being struck by lightning have proved more lethal. Worldwide, there are approximately 70,000 flights every day, with only 50 or so hijacked in the past 40 years.
With no security, this number is likely to increase. Even if thousands of planes are hijacked a day, he observes, more than 60,000 will land as usual.
This leaves the unfortunate question, though. Mr. Clarkson: are you willing to take those odds? One in seven?
Not me ...
Filed under: Europe, United Kingdom, Airlines
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Malaycobra May 11th 2009 12:02PM
Good old Jeremy Clarkson...as PC as an otter in panda sauce entree.
He's only a Sun collumnist on the side, his main gig is a the main man on the BBC's 'Top Gear' motoring show. Sometimes referred to as the most watched television show on earth.
He's very, very funny, and takes great pride in upsetting the loony minorities.
He's also first on my list of "Fantasy Dinner Party" invitees.
The full article can be found here:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/columnists/clarkson/article2420210.ece
Craig May 12th 2009 12:20PM
Well, you have to keep in mind that Clarkson's standard mode of writing is tongue-in-cheek - you can't take everything he says literally.
That said, he - as usual - has a point, in that the "security theatre" of toothpaste seizures and pat-downs of 80-year-olds does nothing to make planes more secure. Of course, security experts have been making this point for years, as the general consensus is that of the post-9/11 changes, the only ones that matter are the secured flight deck doors and the change in passenger and crew attitude toward hijackers. I don't think Jezza is seriously arguing for no screening at all, jut against the excesses and wastes of time we see today.