Originally Posted by CessnaJock

You keep talking about others' fear as if you were capable of fathoming the depth of peoples' psyches. Well, you aren't, so get over yourself.

I don't file a flight plan out of fear - I do it because it's obviously a prudent thing to do. The kind of thing you'd rather have and not need than need and not have. Like wearing seat belts and not driving impaired. I insure my home and vehicles and health for the same reason. Fear does not play a role.

I don't think al-Qaeda is a boogeyman contrived by the government to control us. They are real guys - lots of them - who revel in the killing of Americans. I think the Manila plot was real, that their plan to bring down U.S. flag airplanes probably hasn't been abandoned, and that they will persist until we adopt a decent and humane policy with respect to the strife in the middle east.

I hope that this very real threat can be contained through reasonable precautions regarding what can and cannot get on airplanes. Right now, there is wide disagreement on what constitutes "reasonable" - but I think in time screening will become less invasave. Checking secondary batteries seems like a small step in the direction of procedures that work and can have an effect.