Comment by aftbit
1 day ago
Yeah this is really dumb. If someone really wanted to cause harm, they would just name their device "April's iPhone" or something. If they really wanted to send a threat, they'd pass a note to a flight attendant or name it something like you said.
I get the "abundance of caution" mentality and it's a big part of why airplanes are so safe. But at some point, pilots _have_ to assume that the rest of the apparatus has done its job. They have to assume that when maintenance clears them, the plane actually works (at least with some degree of trust). And they have to assume that when security lets people on the plane, those people don't have bombs.
That doesn't mean they need to ignore the evidence of their eyes and ears, just that they should apply some base level of reason and logic to the situation.
Yeah, it's all CYA and following procedures, who wants to take responsibility for any decision, "not me, I don't want to get sued and be in debt for 7 generations if I get it wrong"... so the bullshit rises all the way of the chain of idiots until someone thinks "Let's just play it safe and turn around, because if there's an actual bomb onboard, turning around will make it not explode!"
This makes me idly wonder what would happen if a Bluetooth device appeared mid-flight with a title like "Bomb will explode if we do not land at LAX before 3 pm" (on a flight to LAX scheduled to land at 2:30 pm or whatever). The idea is... what if turning around is explicitly given as the actual trigger? Would they still turn around out of an abundance of caution? Kinda like Speed I guess ... gotta go fast to be safe.
That'd be a great way of getting your flight to LAX very very quickly, probably even with military escort. But of course afterwards you'll be stuck at the tarmac while a million police and military surround the plane figuring out what to do.
Don't try this at home, kids, (I mean, in the sky).