Thread: CBS News Piece
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Old January 15th 04, 02:14 AM
Philip Sondericker
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Default CBS News Piece

Okay, I just watched the story that seems to have everyone up in arms, and I
have to say, it was as ill-conceived and poorly thought out as many people
feared. A couple of quick points:

I actually found it somewhat humorous when the story mentioned the Florida
kid who stole an airplane and crashed it into a Tampa skyscraper. The intent
may have been to startle us with the destructive potential of GA aircraft,
but the accompanying picture was a hilarious counterpoint--a shot of a
massive skyscraper with just a tiny bit of damage, hardly even noticable
unless you were looking for it. The narrator, of course, missed the irony.

I also didn't feel that the airport manager they interviewed was very
helpful, but let's all keep in mind that he may have been answering
extremely leading questions, and who knows how much of what he said was
edited out.

Finally, the breathless speculation by the former NTSB official as to what
might happen if a small airplane was loaded with explosives was simply
irresponsible and willfully ignorant. He surely knows that September 11th
was the culmination of DECADES of planning and learning by terrorists. They
certainly considered every possibility for carrying out their plans,
carefully studied past terrorist attacks, and looked with extreme care at
which option had the best chance of working. And guess what? They didn't
choose small airplanes.