Hi all,
I would like to comment on the other side of the coin. First, you are not off the subject, but I am looking at the media circus that went on once again. The disaster in the making was more in the minds of the news media than in the air. There is always the potential for a crash in a case like this, but the A320 is well designed and the nose gear is one of the strongest parts of the aircraft and and designed to act as it did. My daughters husband works for Boeing. I agree the pilot is a hero and the training and PREPAREDNESS he went through paid off. To me that is the best example here!

As I watch the news on Katrina it becomes evident that there is a great deal of mis-information and speculation on the part of the media as to who did or didn't do what , when, where and why. With Katrina I fear the media have made others make changes more to answer this mis-information than to assess the situation and correct the real problems. Some of those who yelled the loudest about some one else not doing their job, weren't doing theirs either. They were just first in front of the cameras.

One news cast on the aftermath of Katrina interviewed a survivor who said "she did not feel like she was in America anymore," referring to the medias assessment of the slow response of help for the victims. If Katrina had been like so many other hurricanes in the past, I would say the response was poor. Katrina was not like the others. Simply put, it was a new page in disasters and caught many of the rescuers and supplies in its wake just as a quake will. We will not even look at the "Hidden agendas and plots against... " theories that are now surfacing. That is another dark side of the problem.

I see to many people wallow in in their belief someone else is always going to be their before the shaking or the disaster stops to take care of them. They feel that their own preparedness is not a top priority in their busy life. I do not see the media as helping us see the true picture. They are only now showing the hundreds of individual acts of bravery and compassion that went on during the hurricane.

My dad always said "eternal vigilance is the price of safety" and he is still right. He also said, " prepare for the worst you can think of and you will at least be prepared half of the time! Scary thought but true.

And then came Rita............????

Bob in Woodland Hills.