Our Readers' Opinions
April 1, 2005
Since when does the US have jurisdiction over local airspace?

Editor: The absurdities with which one is forced to live seem to multiply daily. This is perhaps unsurprising in view of the fact that the person calling the shots is the most brainless President in the history of the United States.{{more}}

First there was the utterly ridiculous fence erected on the Bequia shoreline. Now persons travelling by air to the Grenadines from St. Vincent on a regular basis, and who are therefore well-known, are being subjected to body searches as well as searches of hand luggage at the E.T. Joshua airport.

Only the most slavish of bureaucratic mentalities could acquiesce in this completely stupid and useless exercise. Since when does the US have jurisdiction over local airspace?

In the first place, terrorists undertake activities that are designed to have a large impact. Hijacking an eight-seater plane in an inconsequential backwater does not fit the criteria.

Secondly, in a Britten-Norman Islander aircraft there are two passengers sitting less than two feet behind the pilot who would not need weapons of any kind if they wished to incapacitate the pilot. Perhaps the operators of the aircraft need to remove the first two seats and install bullet-proof glass between the pilots and the passenger compartment. That at least would have the merit of being useful.

For God’s sake, is there no one with either the guts, the commonsense or the authority in this country to interject some degree of rationality into the

system?

Unamused