Less than a week after officials in London arrested 21 people suspected of being involved in a plot for a massive terrorist attack that would utilize liquid explosives to blow up airplanes, another terrorist threat was foiled. This time, however, the threat was not based upon extensive police investigation. The threat came from our own culture of fear. We believe that, while security on airplanes and deterrence of terrorist attacks it of utmost importance, there needs to be a return to using common sense to prevent and determine what is a viable threat.

The fear that has been generated by the attacks of Sept. 11, the subsequent attacks on modes of transport in London and Madrid, and a few foiled attempts since, has caused people to pay more attention to airplane security as new and necessary procedures have been instated.

On Thursday, for example, an airport terminal in West Virginia was evacuated after liquids with traces of explosives were confiscated from a woman’s bag. Before last week, these liquids would never have been examined. What we couldn’t imagine before the attacks we now can; it makes since to take actions to prevent what we can now see as a possible threat. At the same time, this fear has clouded rationality; it’s impossible to think clearly when one is afraid.

The 59-year-old woman, who prompted the pilot to declare an emergency on board, was having an anxiety attack due to claustrophobia. She mentioned Pakistan, being associated with some two-word organization that she could not say on the flight, revealed that she had something in her bag that people would be interested in seeing (which later turned out to be a screwdriver and lighters), and proceeded to urinate on the floor in the middle of the airplane.

We are aware that terrorists come in all sizes and shapes, that the woman said things she shouldn’t have said, carried things in her bag she didn’t really need, but we are also cognizant enough to assume that a woman who urinates in the middle of an airplane isn’t part of some massive terrorist threat. This woman was clearly suffering from a mental affliction. There has to be some way of dealing with a hysterical person on an airplane besides landing the plane with the escort of two F-15s.

The precautions the Transportation Security Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, and individual airlines are taking are supposed to make flying safer for the passengers. But the unfortunate reality is, all these measures are not necessarily increasing safety. Machines that actually detect explosives are rarely being used, perhaps because officials are too occupied with random checks that include everyone from grandparents to twelve-year olds.

Many precautions have been created in order to make people feel safer, and now, they’re even failing at that. The hysteria surrounding airplane safety is overblown and prevents officials from spending the time and money where it needs to be spent.