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United Airlines 767 returns to Newark after Bluetooth name sparks alert

simpleflying.com

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Re: United Airlines 767 returns to Newark after Bluetooth name sparks alert

#611

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what's your argument? We all act crazy because crazy people might exist? That's just as crazy as being afraid of terrorists. Why would you let the crazy people run the world. If they're that crazy you put them in a hospital because clearly they need help

The argument is that if I'm responsible for the safety of a very heterogenous group of people in the cabin of my airplane, I will assume that those people are already stressed and will probably act even less rational than they normally would. And that's all that matters in that moment. > If they're that crazy you put them in a hospital because clearly they need help Oh believe me, I would if I could...

  > Oh believe me, I would if I could...
Then let's stop letting this be acceptable behavior? I mean aren't you just enabling crazy people by defending them?

Re: United Airlines 767 returns to Newark after Bluetooth name sparks alert

#612
post #532

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you. Acts of terrorism are black swan events. Question is do we as humanity have the stomach to not act on low probability cues and eat the one off consequences. I don't think we do. I think the only way to play this is to ensure that terrorism against us continues to be only rare, unorganised black swans and not an act of any organized and motivated entity. Coming back to this case. Say this was an oper…

> Now the pilot and the airlines are made a bunch of scapegoats. Crazy that we let this happen. > is the society we live in. The society we live in is one we make. If we let crazy things happen, crazy things happen. There's so many real and big problems in the world. We don't seem to care about those things and we end up fighting about the name of a device? Something that is trivial to go about your day ignoring?

Individual choices is what I try to make but that's not enough.

Re: United Airlines 767 returns to Newark after Bluetooth name sparks alert

#613
post #527

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is trying to sanewash totally insane levels of risk aversion. To add more credence to your point, let's not forget this beautiful line in TFA | During this incident, a Wi-Fi hotspot named "Free Palestine, F Zionists" prompted the pilot to issue a warning to the cabin, telling the passenger responsible that they had "30 seconds" to remove the name or the FBI would meet the aircraft. This is clearly not a threat…

Does naming WiFi hotspot to reflect one’s political views achieve anything? I am not against free speech or expression of freedom, just wondering if such “protests” (assuming that is what this is) have any affect at all? Flying is already a stressful experience - between security checks, waiting for flights, unruly passengers, super cramped seats etc. Why add more stress? Either protest seriously at an appropriate ti…

Irrelevant objection.

Currently signalling support for Palestine is common online. In videogames in my country (Spain) every third player has some such signal (flag or phrase). It's not a serious protest, it's a sign of belonging to group x (whatever group x is), something teens in particular are big in signalling. It's not a big deal and reacting operationally as if it were is a huge security error.

Re: United Airlines 767 returns to Newark after Bluetooth name sparks alert

#614
post #531

This decision almost certainly came about because of people thinking what action was least likely to get them fired. Any rational person would realize the odds of an actual bomb are so close to zero you would need to start worrying about the sun spontaneously exploding if you were worried there was a bomb. The problem is that if you ignored it your boss could say you ignored a bomb threat and fire you. Also if they r…

> This decision almost certainly came about because of people thinking what action was least likely to get them fired.

For aircrew, not following company SOPs is the express route to getting fired.

Re: United Airlines 767 returns to Newark after Bluetooth name sparks alert

#615

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the latest occurring in 2000 26 years ago. That is not a current thing and isn't relevant.

The latest was 9/11 and that is still quite relevant to us today.

It's as recent as WWII was when Nixon got elected.

Re: United Airlines 767 returns to Newark after Bluetooth name sparks alert

#616
post #600

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. Many people are unaware of just how much authority a captain has; Failing to follow their instructions is (basically) a felony. It's best to just not mess around on an aircraft.

It's not about a special status of flight captains. Same can be said of e.g. a store manager acting in-place of the owner. It's a matter of one being on someone's private property, instead of on public property.

Hi, when I was in flight school it wasn’t explicitly stated but certainly heavily implied that as pilots were not allowed to trespass passengers and kick them off the plane mid-flight.

If you have information to the contrary, I would like to be made aware because occasionally I have ended up stuck for hours in the air with unpleasant passengers.

Re: United Airlines 767 returns to Newark after Bluetooth name sparks alert

#617

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's get real. This was a pilot using authority granted to them for security purposes to punish somebody whose politics they disliked. The pilot should be fired effective immediately.

I would be a bit more charitable in assigning motive for the pilot's actions. Airline pilots are morally and physically responsibile for the lives on their aircraft. This necessitates respect for their authority. Like other professionals, they must compartmentalize personal beliefs and professionalism. Playful antics and silly BS, whether it be for the lulz, politics, or anything else, is a disrespectful act of defia…

  > Oh believe me, I would if I could...
Over a tacky free Palestine protest?

  > The system (should) weed out anyone who would act unprofessional, like letting their political beliefs cloud their judgment.
The system should weed out anyone allowing themselves to become upset at a tacky device name. I mean talk about crazy

Re: United Airlines 767 returns to Newark after Bluetooth name sparks alert

#618

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the latest occurring in 2000 26 years ago. That is not a current thing and isn't relevant.

The latest was 9/11 and that is still quite relevant to us today.

> quite relevant

Quite relevant in terms of? Security (theater?) measures that have been allowed to continue?

Re: United Airlines 767 returns to Newark after Bluetooth name sparks alert

#619
JTFC the comments on this one.

And the "Free Palestine, F zionists" that made a return to ramp.

I shouldn't be surprised of the security by obscurity of the aviation industry after seeing it for 10+ years, but still am.

Remember the 737 Max guy. And the likes.

Of FFS.

Re: United Airlines 767 returns to Newark after Bluetooth name sparks alert

#620
It’s seems like they just reported this initially as “four letter word” and then a media outlet later assumed it was bomb. It seems more likely it was a UE Boom, which has boom in its default Bluetooth name.

If that’s the case the teen likely just owned the device and didn’t knot it was turned on. It’s rather long battery and it’s not obvious if it’s on or not.

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