Civilian airspace near major airport shutdown for secret reason, and yet people only care about the noise from flight diversions
November 9th, 2015 at 03:14am
Sometimes I wonder and worry about how little curiosity people seem to have, and how accepting they are of statements from authorities which say absolutely nothing. What is happening to the west of Los Angeles International Airport right now is a perfect example.
The airspace to the west of LAX, over the ocean, is being shut down at night for some secret military operation. Normally, to limit night over residential areas, flights at night use this airspace, but those night flights are now being diverted over populated areas, so it is understandable that residents are a bit upset about the extra noise but it seems peculiar that the airport and not the military are being made the scapegoat for this anger by being thrust in front of the media to explain the situation while the military keep right out of the public eye.
We clearly understand that neighbors and communities east of the airport will experience noise and we apologize for that,” said Nancy Castles, LAX public relations director.
The military is not saying what exactly is causing the change, and LAX claims it’s also in the dark. Castles said all they know is planes can’t be flying at low altitudes to our west.
(h/t Jory Rand, ABC7 Los Angeles)
Having watched the video of the ABC7 report, I think the airport people know more than they are saying and are probably restricted from saying any more, but that’s a little beside the point. What really intrigues me is how little the residents interviewed by ABC7 seem to care that there is something weird happening a short distance from their homes.
One resident interviewed by ABC7 (seen in the video but not quoted in their article) seemed to be annoyed by the extra noise but not concerned at all about the cause, while another came up with this pearler of a statement which I think is sadly indicative of the attitudes of many when it comes to things done by authorities behind a cloak of secrecy or at least minimal disclosure.
“And plus if it’s a military thing it’s a good thing, that means they’re making it safer for us so I wouldn’t let it bother me,” said Steve Devosion of Inglewood. “I’d be more interested in them not doing something about what’s going on than them doing something about what’s going on.”
Putting aside the fact that the statement is at least partially indecipherable gibberish, it seems to me that Mr. Devosion is saying that if the military or the government is doing something, it must be for the best. What exactly he imagines is going on is beyond me, but his gibberish sentence seems to indicate that he has something other than a practice in mind.
And that is exactly why I don’t understand why people are not more curious about it. If it’s not a practice drill, then what exactly is happening just off the coast that can only be dealt with at night and needs to be kept from prying eyes, and what risk does it potentially pose? Or for that matter what future risk could it be preparing for? And if it is just a practice, why does it need to be in that spot when there are better, more covert, watered areas which could be used and not cause inconvenience to civilians?
Of course I acknowledge that there are some things which should be kept secret, and this could be one of them, but even things which should be kept secret should also be met with some scepticism and inquisitiveness by the public, and yet this seems to be blindly accepted by most of the people who are the most affected by it.
It is just another example of people not applying any critical thought or analysis to a statement by something which has an authoritative status. It seems that this type of blind faith in government and pseudo-government entities (but not the political masters of these entities) is growing in our society, and I must say I am more than a bit concerned that people who refuse to think critically are becoming the majority and are reaching a point where they will vote us all in to some sort of government enslavement (a thing which comes in many forms including the “nanny state”, growing socialist policies and programs, and burdensome extra taxation to fund it all) without ever giving any thought to the consequences because they believed the promise that it was all or their safety or protection.
While I’m on the subject of the unusual things people will accept and the odd things happening near Los Angeles International Airport, have a look at this view over Los Angeles which ABC7 included in their report but didn’t bother to explain.
Image credit: ABC7 News, Friday November 6, 2015. Click the image for a larger version.
What in the heck is that light formation? Sadly, I dare say most people aren’t interested in finding out.
Samuel
Entry Filed under: Bizarreness,General News,Samuel's Editorials
2 Comments
1. kj | November 13th, 2015 at 1:50 am
Hi Samuel. Just on a different topic, do you have any information on changes flagged for 2UE next year? Cheers.
2. Samuel | November 13th, 2015 at 1:11 pm
I’m afraid not. Nothing specific anyway. I do have some thoughts on what could happen but I wouldn’t bet on them.
It seems that Macquarie are keen to keep 2UE as a talk station, but the question is what sort of talk station. I’d suggest the softer conversational tone and lifestyle talk which has built up this year (especially in the afternoon) will be a bigger part of 2UE next year as it seems to be doing well for the station and compliments the 2GB audience rather than competing for it. (I should add that, while 2UE has gone in a different direction to what I would have liked to do if I had any say in it, I must congratulate Clinton Maynard on finding a format which has done extremely well given the budgetary constraints and which has seemingly also kept the corporate bigwigs happy by not eating in to 2GB’s audience).
Almost all of 2UE’s syndicated programs have been replaced in syndication by shows in the same timeslots on 2GB. I won’t be surprised if networked overnights moves home from 2UE to 2GB in the new year, and I also won’t be surprised if Wake Up Australia goes in to syndication beyond the existing 4BC relay. If this does happen, keep an eye out for a swap of 2UE’s George & Paul with the weekend lifestyle programs on 2GB. It would eliminate much of the shuffling required for the paid programming on 2GB between summer and winter timeslots while also eliminating the need for a Saturday Ray Hadley Show (which was brought in to counter George & Paul’s move to an earlier timeslot and simultaneous stronger news focus, and the Saturday Hadley show is not hosted by Ray for most of the year and hasn’t been picked up by many affiliates).
Of particular note in the list of presenter changes listed on the Macquarie Syndication website is that Stuart Bocking’s morning show is listed as unavailable over the summer break…keep an eye on that timeslot. Also noteworthy is that Neil Mitchell’s morning show has Neil away for the same amount of time as Ray Hadley but with the replacement announcer “TBA”. While it would be silly to pump Hadley’s fill-in to Melbourne for a whole month, I wonder if it is on the cards for the week between Christmas and New Year. I could imagine a lot of extra networking to cut costs in that week.
But as for actual details on what will happen…it’s one of the few occasions on which I think Sharina might have a clearer view of the future than me!