Millions of US Passengers Fly On Unsafe Planes

Millions of US passengers fly on unsafe planes

* 65,000 flights not fit for take off
* Six-month investigation
* Repairs by unaccredited mechanics

US airlines permitted at least 65,000 flights with millions of passengers on planes that were not fit for takeoff over the past six years

www.news.com.au...



Ironic ?

After terrorising the public with tales of 'terrorists'

and after recent reports that Pres. Obama plans to invest tens of millions of dollars on 'naked scanners' allegedly to 'protect' the public

it now emerges that the biggest threat comes from the planes themselves !


Well, you know ... deals are done, aren't they ?

Guess there would be lots of lucrative kick-backs from awarding contracts to the 'naked scanner' companies

but not many kick-backs, perhaps, from cheap migrant labour employed as 'mechanics' and maintenance crews

Money matters

Lives are cheap

[edit on 2-2-2010 by Dock9]

I hate flying for this very reason. It's crazy.

What the hell is happening in America these days? I mean the sad state of affairs I see my country in is downright depressing. Our infrastructure is crumbling, our planes are unsafe to fly in, our military is out of control, our deficts are record high, 75% of Americans are considered obese...........

This is also a perfect example of how fallible and irresponsible the private sector is..............just as irresponsible as our government.

Then there's this:

American Airlines probed over 'substandard' repairs

AMERICAN Airlines is under investigation by the US Federal Aviation Administration over allegations of substandard repairs on its ageing fleet of MD-80 aircraft.
US media reports over the weekend said the US regulatory agency was investigating allegations that at least one plane was considered unsafe to fly at normal altitudes because of a structural problem with a rear bulkhead, The Australian reports.

According to The Wall Street Journal, up to 16 MD-80s, an older style aircraft made by McDonnell Douglas before it was taken over by Boeing, were operated for months with allegedly substandard repairs.

The WSJ cites allegations from pilots that one MD-80 was in such poor conditions it was ferried to a maintenance base in Oklahoma at unusually low altitudes to avoid the stress of pressurisation during the trip.

See rest of story here:

www.news.com.au...


It's the same in Australia

Oz had the best air safety-record in the world, not all that long ago

Then, very 'mysteriously', a pilot's strike was arranged

All duly detailed by the whore media


Next we knew, Australian airlines were being piloted mainly by 3rd world pilots

and Aussie pilots left to fly elsewhere


Since then, the safety-recond is a lot of accidents just waiting to happen

As with the US, cheap 3rd world labour is being used by airlines



Let's hope for a return of the ocean liners, although even there it's all gone to pot. Sure, the new ships are bigger and tower like skyscrapers

but they seem to be riddled with disease and prone to instability

not to mention the Usual Suspects 'disappearing' passengers to the point it's almost an expected occurrence on each voyage

and 'ship-board' rapes and other attacks have become just one more hazard to be risked

(oh, and pirates have stepped from the pages of history and romantic novels and now compete with 'terrorists' on planes )

I suppose its cheaper to pay out the reletives of dead passengers of the odd plane crash as oppsed to regular proper maintanence.

Sad to see money put before lifes but that is the same the world over nothing matters more than the bottom line and forever expanding growth year on year.

reply to post by jpmail


As with most everything else, the pendulum will probably swing the other way one day

Doubt we'll be around to enjoy it, though


Imagine

* streets safe enough to walk along

* no need to secure property as if it were Fort Knox

* courtesy freely given: 'thank yous' for example instead of sour-faced check-out operators who're too bitter to realise they're lucky to have a job

* teachers who actually care

* being able to trust people to be near your children

* honest journalism

* safe plane, bus, rail, ship travel where the emphasis is on service

* Oh that's a big one. Would love to see a return to SERVICE from service industries

reply to post by Dock9


Fantastic comparison about unsafe planes and people accepting body scans to feel safe.
I guess to blend it all together, even on an unsafe plane, so long as peeps have had their scan, they feel safe that the plane won't fall out of the sky.

reply to post by Flighty


Did you ever read 'Kinflicks' by Lisa Alther ?

It was LONG before the woeful situation we find ourselves in today of course

The book's heroine's plan was to take a bomb on board planes with her

She worked on the theory that the odds would never arrange for two people with a bomb to be on the same plane at the same time

It was such a funny and radical concept that it sold the book by the tens of thousands

These days, anyone who wrote something like that would be thrown into Guantanamo

Innocent old days. Long gone