How safe are flights entering US air Space?

With all the politizing aside, just how safe are the planes entering and landing in the US.
Our goverment is constantly telling the american people just how much safer the skies above us are now in comparison to pre 9/11.
They are even now looking to add lasers to american aircraft to help defend against anti aircraft missiles. The Us requires that manifests of all passengers entering the country be sent to the US so that they can be checked to make sure that no known terrorists are aboard. We all have heard how well that has worked, like the problem with the "previously known" singer Cat Stevens.
But just how safe are these planes? Just how well have all the measures that the US goverment have taken, actually are working?
Well let see, As mentioned above, you have the infamous and very laughable incident where Cat Stevens, who's new name is Yusuf Islam, had been identified as a terror suspect.
Last week, you have a Virgin airlines pilot flying an aircraft from England to New York sending out a signal indicating that the plane had been hijacked.
A few weeks ago, the White House and Congress were evacuated because a small cesna aircraft flew to within 3 miles of the White House.
Now today, a leg fell into backyard from a plane that was landing at ohn F. Kennedy Airport.
Body Part Falls From Plane, Lands in Backyard
Now I question you, Just how safe are the american citizens from terrorists? The above can clearly demonstrate that our skies surely are not.
Our ports are not safe. In some cases, there is only 1 count them 1 inspector for some of the largest ports. His job... inspect the contents of incoming containers. A pretty daunting task when you consider that there are hundred of these containers comming to port every single day.
The above addresses both Sea and air. Now let's look at the land.
How easy is it for anyone to cross into this country from either Canada or Mexico. We have an estimated 1/2 million people of all nationalities who cross into the US illegally every year. Wonder how many of these are members of the various terrorist groups.

In my mind, the american people are being decieved, distracted and placated into believing that they are safe. How long until another 9/11 like event will happen to wake the american public????

you're only as safe flying as your government wants you to be. I'd only start to get worried when Bush's approval rating starts to slide

Seems as safe, if not safer, than any other country in the world.
I live in the UK and a friend has just come back from the US after flying to Washington then on to LA and a visit to Las Vegas to vist reletives. She said the security is really tight but that the price you pay for better security i think.
The only thing to worry about is mechanical faliure and that could happen in any country.

That is the problem.
It seems safer and the goverment tells us that it is, but from everything that I cited, it is more of just a security blanket rather than true security.
Example, in the source that I used, you will see that they recovered the rest of the body on the aircraft. How could a body / stowaway been able to get past "security" at the aitport.
Also lets not forget just how "secure" the rest of the entry points are in the US.
A southern border that basically only servers to designate the land that the US calls it's own. It definately is no where near secure.
Also just how secure the ports are at say, New York, San Fran, etc.

Flights coming into the country aren't as safe as domestic flights. As I noted in another thread today, I've seen weapons get past Canadian security on flights going to the US and not much was done about it, except for confiscating the weapon. As far as private flights, if they don't have an identifier and aren't expected to be approaching US airspace, chances are they're going to be shot down if they head to a major city, or tailed until they land with a beautiful Homeland Security escort. Security coming into the US is only as good as the country your leaving makes it, and most, if not all, US airports have lists of the countries whose security isn't up to snuff. I would assume those flights are tracked a little more closely on radar than those coming from countries with good security.

The Yusuf Islam situation was handled very well...

He was on a watchlist for reported associations, and financial support to Muslim charities with terrorist connections. We [the US] also recieved intel. from a source outside of the US that linked Islams name to terrorist activity.

He was allowed to board the plane because his name had been added to the watch list only recently, and had been misspelled.

It was the "Advanced Passenger Information System" that flagged Islam's name, and then prompted customs agents to alert the Transportation Security Administration, which then ordered the plane diverted to Bangor, Maine, and away from the northeast corridor of New York and Washington.

After Questioning from US officials, he was denied entry to the US.

More recently, our intelligence community has come into the possession of additional information that further heightens the concerns towards Yusuf Islam.

www.cnn.com...
news.bbc.co.uk...


The Virgin Atlantic false terror alarm, was handled very well...

According to a Virgin Atlantic spokeswoman “The transponder sent out a false alert”...

The captain of the plane, then said while en route to New York that everything was allright, and it was just a false alarm. The cockpit was still secure. Despite what the pilot said... the plane was still intercepted anyway, and met by RCMP, and Candian Border Service Agency.

Sounds like it was handled well to me. I mean, if a plane is hijacked, and a transponder sounds out an alert... I'd be suspicious no matter what a pilot said. It'd be easy to put a gun to a pilots head, and tell him to say "everythings ok here... it was all a mistake, everything is fine." It's good that we followed through... If canada didn't intercept the plane, the US sure as hell would've... but luckily canada is awesome like that.

www.msnbc.msn.com...


The White House Airspace violation was handled very well too.

The plane violated restricted airspace... we evacuated gov't buildings to keep our gov't officials safe. We also met the plane with a black hawk helicopter, and two f-16s. The plane was forced down, and the pilot, and passenger were both questioned by the FBI, and Secret Service. It was believed to be all accidental, and the pilots were sent on their way. (allthough I think I heard that the FAA was going to fine them, and/or revoke the pilot's license.)

If the plane actually posed a risk, it would've been met by f-16s... from there it most likely would've been shot down. Thats what the 3 mile zone is for... It's a buffer that will give us time to react, and respond to the situation at hand.

www.cnn.com...


The body parts falling out of the sky is new to me...

It's believed it fell out of the wheel well... and it's believed to be part of the remains were that of a male stow away. How does this pose a threat to US security though?

Lets suppose a stow away in a wheel well could survive the flight, as well as the landing of the craft he is in... what would he do once the plane stops? Airports are swamped with cameras, maintenance, baggage, and security personnel. Surely someone would notice some south african stranger wandering around on the tarmac.

I will agree with you however when you say our ports, and physical borders are not secure... but thats not what this thread is about. It's about the safety of the US airways... and in answer to that question, I feel pretty safe saying, their pretty safe.

How could a body / stowaway been able to get past "security" at the aitport.?

The plane originated from Johannesburg, and made a stop in Senegal... so the body in question probly came aboard from there...

[edit on 6/7/05 by microcosm]