Is Jerry Orr’s job as airport honcho so secure that he can blithely blow off a possible major security breach that has garnered national publicity? He sure seems to think so. Ever since Delvonte Tisdale, a North Meck sophomore, died on Nov. 15 after falling from the wheel well of a plane near Boston at the end of a flight that originated in Charlotte, Orr, the “aviation director” (head honcho) at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, has been perfecting his Alfred E. Newman impersonation, cultivating an almost blasé, “What, me worry?” pose about the tragedy.
As Steve Harrison reports in the Observer, Orr says he’s not planning any special review of security at the airport, despite a Massachusetts prosecutor who called the tragedy a major breach of security at Charlotte Douglas. In fact, Orr seems to be getting pretty pissy about the whole thing. When Harrison asked Orr whether he planned to look into the airport’s fencing, locks, and so forth, Orr said, “We’ll take a look at that, but we take a look at that all the time.” Orr went on to say that he didn’t even have much information about the tragedy, stating, for the record, that “All we know is what we have read in the paper.”
If that’s not enough of a “don’t give a damn,” defensive attitude for you, then how about this? Orr told the daily paper that he hasn’t even spoken with anyone at US Airways about how Tisdale could have gotten into the jet’s wheel well. Oh, and City Manager Curt Walton? Guess. That’s right: “City Manager Curt Walton, who is Orr’s boss, said he hadn’t spoken with Orr about security at the city-owned airport.”
This is just unbelievable. Maybe Orr is being Mr. Nonchalant because he assumes the Transportation Security Administration is at fault, although TSA merely screens passengers and luggage, while the city is supposed to take care of all other security. Or maybe Orr doesn’t think that a local teenager dying because of poor security — never mind the possibility of a terrorist hiding out in a wheel well — are important issues. Or maybe Orr doesn’t like it that another agency is poking its nose into his fiefdom. And God only knows why Walton hasn’t lifted a finger. Whatever Orr’s and Walton’s reasons for inaction — and in Orr’s case, a casual, unconcerned attitude — it’s time for City Council to light a fire under this public servant’s butt, and the sooner the better.
This article appears in Dec 14-20, 2010.
I like Jerry Orr. It’s nice to see there is at least one person in the aviation industry who is not drowning in the swamp of paranoia that is consuming the “home of the brave”.
TSA has never caught a terrorist,nor intercepted an explosive device. They have, however, seized millions of dollars worth of travelers’ property, and arrested a number of people who had the audacity to be offended by their Gestapo tactics.
They should be disbanded. It would save us almost 7 Billion dollars a year.
Orr Shmore. This guy yabs on and on about the TSA, but now things have come around to bite him in the bootyhouse. Sure the TSA is wacky, but they keep things exciting and make for interesting YouTube fodder.
How Clinton-esque…”I didn’t know anything about til I read it in the paper…” Orr has been a hands-off joke for decades!
The real question should be what was that Delmonte kid thinking when he climbed into a jet’s wheel well. I think that this a Darwin Award winner.
Keep up the good work Jerry.
Hey Jerry quit stealing my lines.
How can we get bigger wheel wells put into the jets? That way more idiots can get in there. The world is over populated with these people. Maybe Jerry could build a “special” gate ….that leads directly to the enlarged wheel wells…just a thought….
One of the unattended consequences of opening the new runway at Charlotte Douglas last year is an unprecedented (250) flights a day that now fly over Wilson Creek Wild and Scenic River and Linville Gorge Wilderness Area. These areas sixty miles from Charlotte were set aside for citizens to retreat to from the hectic pace of daily life.
The new Charlotte Douglas runway sends over (250) departing flights a day over our pristine mountain areas and right as they reach these areas they are given the command to climb to 20,000 feet. The jets point their noses up which means their tails are pointed down and they increase throttle to 80% which creates a tremendous noise over our beautiful natural reserves.
This is an unattended consequence. The matter can be remedied if attention is brought to the matter. Please consider helping to resolve this unattended consequence and restore the natural quiet and audible beauty to our National Wild and Scenic Areas.
Thanking you in advance for your attention to this matter.
Grady Pitts: The flights over your scenic area are not from the new runway, but from a new FAA GP flight pattern that forces flights over a narrow path that happens to cover your area. If Mr. Orr wanted to, he could leverage his dubious influence to ask FAA to disburse the flights and have them depart from or approach Charlotte at higher altitudes. You should focus on petitioning your federal, state and local political representatives to force the airport and FAA to disburse the flights. And we need to push the city to replace Mr. Orr with someone less enamored with his own press clippings.