SEARCH FOR DEFECTIVE PLANE JACKSCREWS PROMPTED BY THE WORST POSSIBLE REASON: A CRASH

While many Americans feel they are overregulated by government, there is some comfort to be taken from the layers of bureaucracy that attempt to ensure our safety in public places and on public transportation. Whenever we get on an elevator, we do so with some confidence that the elevator will take us up and down without concern for snapped cables or other life-threatening malfunctions.

It cannot be repeated too often that American airlines are the safest way to travel, statistically speaking. In spite of a few major tragedies, most airline customers will reach their destinations safely -- even if their luggage doesn't.

Recent attention to the jackscrews in the tail sections of some airplanes has revealed several defects, requiring the planes to be grounded and the jackscrews replaced. It is unsettling to imagine these defects might not have been sought if it hadn't been for a calamitous crash.