Word: takeoff
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Meanwhile, there are still serious questions about the crash. The preliminary conclusion by French investigators is well known: during takeoff, a 16-in. metal strip on the runway slashed one of the Concorde's tires, sending a 10-lb. piece of rubber into the underside of the wing and causing a fuel tank to rupture. Something yet undetermined ignited a fire that engulfed the No. 2 engine. There was also a problem with the No. 1 engine: it could not provide thrust. Given those problems, the pilots lost control of the plane after only one minute...
Under these new precautions, the advocates of racial profiling could take comfort from knowing that all passengers and luggage were screened thoroughly before takeoff. At the same time, Middle Eastern passengers could travel without fearing harassment or assault from anxious travelers and overzealous security. By no means would these measures eradicate racial insecurity from our airports; the problem extends far beyond the terminal...
...rumors and hoaxes and sowing conspiracy theories are common responses to calamity. When Hurricane Andrew hit Miami in 1992, there were tales of stockpiled bodies hidden by the government to prevent public hysteria. After the Challenger explosion, people swore they had seen crew members leave the space shuttle before takeoff. We are currently seized by the same phenomenon but of an unprecedented order of magnitude. "People are looking for certainty, and they don't care where they get it," says Gary Fine, a sociology professor at Northwestern University who specializes in the study of rumors. "They would rather know something...
...Congressman John Cooksey told a radio show, "If I see someone come in that's got a diaper on his head, that guy needs to be pulled over." (He later apologized.) On that same day, the pilot of a Delta flight in Texas had a Pakistani American removed before takeoff because he said his crew did not feel comfortable with the man aboard. Delta offered him a new ticket--on another carrier. (It later apologized.) In Lincoln, R.I., someone hit a pregnant woman wearing a hijab (head scarf) with a stone. She has been calling midwives to avoid giving birth...
From December 1998 to April 1999, Transportation Department investigators managed to breach airport security on 117 of 173 tries, a frightening 68% success rate--in some cases making it all the way to a seat on board just before takeoff. Investigators deliberately set off 25 emergency-exit alarms, only to find almost half of them ignored. They accomplished all this, according to the Inspector General's findings, with apparent ease, "piggybacking employees through doors, riding unguarded elevators, walking through concourse doors, gates and jet-bridges...and cargo facilities unchallenged, and driving through unmanned vehicle gates." The massive amount of construction...