…Vs. The Deeper Reality

The implied but unarticulated subtext of the WABC story, as well as the recent CBS network report, is that small airports and small airplanes are lacking in intrinsic value to society, and thus present an unnecessary threat. Yet a tragic story from Hawaii last week showed that people do value the services based at these kind of airports — after an air ambulance crashed, killing the pilot and two paramedics, the crew members were widely hailed as heroes. The thousands of small airports across the country provide a base for such critical services — firefighters and search-and-rescue units, police and news helicopters, ambulances and cargo planes — which we’ve yet to see mentioned by any of these “airport insecurity” reports.