West metro letters to the editor

Last update: November 3, 2009 - 4:19 PM

Pilot self-reporting

The FAA revoked licenses for the Northwest Airlines "go-the-extra-mile" pilots after the two men reported their own mistake. Surprise, surprise: both the union and industry object to the revocations.

After all, there is a policy that encourages pilots to disclose safety lapses confidentially without fear of penalty, and if the revocations do hold up, then similar reporting from other pilots will be discouraged, and that in turn will hurt overall safety -- or so the argument goes.

Great. So if I'm a pilot and screw up, all I've got to do is tell on myself immediately, and I'm immune from consequences?

Pardon me, but wouldn't that kind of thinking undermine safety even more?

Allowing it would be like telling pilots to go ahead and be lackadaisical, because there is a loophole to save their hides. Forget passengers' hides. Of course, reading a newspaper report is not exactly reading a legal document or a thoroughly considered policy paper, so I'm probably misunderstanding something, right?

JIM BARTOS

BROOKLYN PARK

Future of health care

The swine flu/H1N1 has been talked about and planned for since last spring, and yet most of the population has been unable to access the very limited amount of vaccine. In fact, most people can't receive the seasonal flu vaccine either, as it also has experienced shortages.

Implementation and distribution is terribly late, and more and more people are being infected daily. My daughter came down with it, I attempted to get her the effective Tamiflu treatment, but that too is limited only to high-risk patients.

For all those who are already infected, there has been no vaccine and there is no treatment. Schools are deeply affected, workplaces are feeling the losses of personnel, and we are only in October. The government had anticipated 40 million vaccines available by mid October. Yet by most counts, we are well below 10 million, and that has to be prioritized for those most vulnerable.

The current headlines are filled to overflowing on health care. Where is an intelligent discussion on this major health care breakdown? We are asked to follow the path toward more government involvement in our health decisions, and yet at this very moment a major health care misstep goes under-scrutinized.

If the H1N1 debut is an indication of things to come with more government involvement, we must all stop and take a hard look at our future.

BARB DOVOLIS

EDINA