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Senator Charles Schumer is all over the city's skies. Regulating them, that is. In the wake of the Upper East Side plane crash, Senator Schumer is asking for the FAA to make more changes. His ideas? Make a "Trusted Flyer" program which would require pilots to register their planes and submit to background checks before flying in local airspace. Schumer said, "It's a little bit like E-ZPass, in a certain sense." Uh, yeah. He added, "The problem here is that the FAA is focusing on accidents - that's very important - but they neglect terrorism altogether."
Schumer also asked for more air traffic controllers, as well as restricting the Hudson River from small planes (they would need air traffic control contact) and rapid-response helicopters to "intercept any potential threat to air safety." That was our question - whether or not NYC had rapid-response anything in case of a threat. There are fighter jets that can be dispatched, but how close are they? Anyway, Schumer urged that the FAA "wake up," but in an interesting pass-the-buck move, the FAA says that the Transportation Security Administration is responsible for airspace safety. Just don't send it to Homeland Security is all we ask.
The funeral for Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle, who was on the plane, is tomorrow; Yankees manager Joe Torre and general manager Brian Cashman will be there. And NBC News had an animation (stills above) of the accident - it's pretty eerie.
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I thought Republicans had exclusively co-opted the "Let's register everyone for everything" bandwagon.
I, for one, welcome our new RFID-implanting overlords.
This is ridiculous, knee-jerk politics. None of these restrictions will stop a terrorist from simply taking off from a nearby airport and heading straight for the city. There will be no time for jets or helicopters to respond (and what would a helicopter do? Shoot it down and rain debris over midtown)? Did anyone happen to notice that the damage to the building was MINIMAL and the only death were those on the plane? This isn't a real threat. You'd also have to shut down the sidewalks because any terrorist with a Hummer could easily run down 30 people in Times Square. Will there be a "trusted driver" program too? Let's just move on with our lives.
Okay, Chuck, we see you! Your little plan got you on TV, and you've gotten the media attention you wanted. Can we let this du-u-umb plan die now?
If the pilot's are New Yorkerst and their flying is anything like their driving, then restrict all space where there are buildings higher then one story.
Chuck Schumer is always on TV every Sunday bitching about something. He is on almost every week because Sunday is a slow news day.
That animation is horrible.. it makes it look like he nearly hit the statue of liberty and that the building he did hit was the only tall building for a mile around.
If the pilot's are New Yorkerst and their flying is anything like their driving, then restrict all space where there are buildings higher then one story.
mh,
If life in general was anything like your spelling and grammar, I'd just kill myself today.
You almost had a funny joke, there.