It Really Changed Everything!
On This Day:
July 16, 1948 — First commercial airplane hijacked!**
“Armed men hijacked a flight carrying 23 passengers from Macau to Hong Kong. Only one survived the plane’s subsequent crash.” **
or
September 11, 2001 — Terrorist Attack On Twin Towers
“The U.S. Department of State provides a chronological description of significant terrorist attacks since 1961. Arguably the most notable of these to today’s youths were the hijackings of Sept. 11, 2001.
“This was the bloodiest day on American soil since our Civil War, a modern Antietam … not with soldiers but with secretaries, security guards, lawyers, bankers, janitors,” Time magazine recounts in an article written three days after the collapse of the targeted World Trade Center towers. But quite unfortunately, many other hijackings, also with dire outcomes, had happened before.”**
Facts & Information:
Sixty-two million passengers flew on commercial passenger airline flights in the year 1960.
In 2017 — 84 million Americans traveled over the Christmas holidays.
Approximately 720 million people flew in 2017.
In 1970, 50% of the American population had flown in a commercial airplane. In 2015 that number went to over 80%
“Price” is the number one criteria for making a decision to fly.
The TSA security of American airports cost approximately 7.4 billion a year.
The airlines generate approximately 3.4 billion from charging for checked bags.
Approximately 59 million extra bags are checked aboard airplanes every year.
American, Southwest, Delta, and United are the leading domestic airlines – in that order.
“A new report finds that 2017 was the safest year for commercial air travel ever — with only 111 accidents and 13 deaths worldwide.”
At any one time, there may be 500,000 people are in the air — which is greater than the population of Boston or Detroit.
In the US, there are over . . . .
- 5,000 planes in the air at any one moment
- 42,700 departures recorded in the last 24 hours
- 15,631,000 flights in 2016
- 521 US airport traffic control towers
- 14,050 air traffic controllers
- 19,601 US airports
- 2,587,000 US passengers flying every day
- 26,527 flight scheduled every day
- an average of 120 passengers per flight.
— see bythenumbers
Southwest Airlines carried the most passengers in 2017.
The most airplanes flying out in any one day, fly out of Atlanta, Georgia.
Overbooking:
“On average, the number of people not turning up to flights is around 5 percent, but, in certain circumstances, that number can be up to 15 percent. Obviously, that puts airlines in an interesting position.
Sometimes too many people turn up to a flight. Usually, this is resolved by asking people to volunteer not to fly, but that doesn’t always work out. Last year, 46,000 travelers were involuntarily bumped from flights.
“It is far cheaper to give someone a $500 travel voucher every now and again than letting planes fly at less than full capacity.”” — overbooking
Key Illustrative Thoughts:
• security
• omniscience
• whose aboard (Ahitophel & Hushai)
• lost bags
• what is in your baggage
• can’t bring that aboard with you
• there is only one traffic control tower & controller
• “Price” is the issue — what will it cost me
• carry-on vs. checked
• no metal detector needed
• remove your shoes
• arrive early / showing up late / door is closed for boarding
• it cost you for all the extras when flying — luggage / food / seats
• all the extras are free in Christ
• always overbooking a flight
• with the Lord, there are no overbooked flights
• fastest & safest means of travel available (and a man went down to Jericho)
• pre-check passenger
• sky marshall aboard
• hijacked (used by Satan instead of God)
• a sea-change
• It changes everything
Example Use:
Remember the days of simple and easy air travel — primarily before 9/11 — such as . . . .
(Use some or all)
- Family or friends could walk you to the gate, hug, and say goodbye to you there.
- You did not need to arrive two hours early.
- You did not need to take your coat off, remove your shoes.
- Pull this or that out of your carry-on bags.
- Have a person pat you down or run a metal detecting wand over and around your body.
- Walk through a metal detector.
- Experience a full body scan.
- Have your luggage swabbed with a piece of gauze and run through a bomb screening machine.
- A passport or driver’s license was not required.
- You did not need to take off your hat.
- Your family or friend could pick you up at the gate or the curbside.
- You did not need to gulp down that beverage before going through security.
- Carrying a pair of scissors of any size was allowed.
- You don’t want to ask the wrong question to a TSA official — maybe not even make eye contact.
- There is probably an “Air Marshall” aboard the flight.
- You are happy when your ticket says “Pre-check” — but often it does not mean a great deal of difference.
- You pack as light as you can with your carry-on bags and are careful what you pack inside since it might be asked to be opened.
- When cockpit doors are locked, and that means no more passengers are allowed to board.
- Crew members were not allowed to carry guns.
- More than one person could be lined up at the front restroom door.
- People could park their cars underneath the airport.
- You could carry liquid products over 3 oz.
- Box cutters were allowed on airplane pre 9/11 — really sounds a little surprising to us today!
- The TSA has replaced the FAA presence in the airport.
- Some people’s names are on a watch list.
- “Grannies” are pulled out of line and searched.
- Lines have become longer and longer.
- Even the smallest airports have full security operations.
A “Sea Change” did not take place on July 16, 1948 — but it took place on 9/11 — commercial flying has undergone a radical change, and most of the changes revolve around SECURITY! “They” want to know WHO is flying — WHO is in that airplane and if they should have any concerns about your presence! WHO’s on board matters to them . . . . .
They will “xray” your luggage so that they can know what you have in your bags and may even open them up right then and there — and riffle through your bags to see what you are carrying with you.
The Lord never needs to do that! . . . . . . . . .
Other Information & Links:
* “Sea-change or seachange, an English idiomatic expression which denotes a substantial change in perspective, especially one which affects a group or society at large, on a particular issue. It is similar in usage and meaning to a paradigm shift, and may be viewed as a change to a society or community’s zeitgeist, with regard to a specific issue. The phrase evolved from an older and more literal usage when the term referred to an actual “change wrought by the sea,”[1] a definition that remains in limited usage.” — wikipedia
** http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/on-this-day/May-June-08/On-this-Day–The-First-Commercial-Flight-is-Hijacked.html
“First-Ever Commercial Hijacking Has Lone Survivor in Ringleader
The copilot grabbed a crowbar and attempted to hit the gunmen. The “pirates fired wildly at the two pilots,” killing both, Time magazine reported. Once shot, the main pilot, Dale Cramer, an American, fell dead over the controls. The plane flew out of control, sending passengers into the aisles, as it dove into the sea.
Only one of the 26 people on board survived. Fishermen found Wong Yu, the confessed leader of the hijacking, in the sea. He had jumped out of the plane’s rear emergency exit prior to the crash.
The apparent goal of the hijackers was to hold the wealthy passengers for ransom, although the plane regularly carried gold bullion as cargo, so some sources speculate that the hijackers wanted the gold.
Over the next 30 years, hijackings became increasingly frequent. The 10-year average—between 1948 and 1957—was just over one per year, but the annual average from 1968 to 1977 climbed to 41 per year.
Since 1948, airline security measures have improved greatly and the number of hijackings has not again reached 1970s heights.”
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/nostalgia-travel/index.html
http://airlinemilesexperts.com/how-has-air-travel-changed-in-the-past-decade/
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/peggy-goldman/air-travel-then-and-now_b_2138953.html
https://www.farecompare.com/travel-advice/9-ways-security-has-changed-since-911/
Click to access II_How%209-11%20Changed%20Getting%20on%20an%20Airplane.pdf
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/how-911-changed-air-travel
https://www.quora.com/How-many-people-are-in-the-air-flying-at-any-given-time
https://www.bts.gov/newsroom/2017-traffic-data-us-airlines-and-foreign-airlines-us-flights
https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/by_the_numbers/
RhetoricAndHomiletics.Org 
4 thoughts on “Today’s Illustration: A “Sea Change”*”