Davis’ Private Plane Sends Wrong Message

I believe Gov. Gray Davis is sending a powerfully negative message by acceding to his security staff’s recommendation to abandon commercial airline travel at this time (“Davis to Get Jet for Safety,” Sept. 22). Travel via commercial airlines is arguably safer now than it has been previously, due to dramatically heightened security and public awareness. The traveling public needs to have its leaders’ reassurance and note the example of their confidence in the safety of commercial airline travel at a time when the very survival of commercial air travel is threatened.

This is not an issue of the government expenditure for the lease of a private airplane but rather one of the further erosion of public confidence in the safety of commercial air travel. I actually think it is appropriate for the governor to enjoy the convenience and efficiency of an executive jet. However, his timing and rationale couldn’t be worse.

C. Richard Johnson

El Segundo

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This is not the time for Davis to lease a jet for safety reasons. He should take commercial jets with photos of him boarding. The airlines are in desperate financial straits because of the public’s fear of flying, and thousands of employees are losing their jobs.

Don Willock

Marina del Rey

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As a frequent flier, I couldn’t miss the message the governor was sending by leasing a private plane: He doesn’t think the airlines are safe. It isn’t really the money, at a time when the economy is in a recession, or that one of the governor’s big campaign contributors won the contract in an expedited bid; it’s the fact that the state’s highest elected official wants us to trust our lives to the security at California’s airports while he himself does not.

Rob Styler

San Pedro

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How can Davis expect tourists to return to the state, or for the rest of us to try to resume a sense of normality, when he refuses to travel on commercial airlines because they’re not safe? A leader must lead by example, and it would be far better for the governor to follow the lead of New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who was in the stands at Friday’s baseball game. His message: The terrorists have not won.

Ed Silverstein

Santa Monica