Don't mean to burst your bubble re: emergency surgical airway. I trained in surgery (5 years) and practiced emergency medicine 17 years and was involved actively in EMS for most of that time. I have performed only a half-dozen cricothyroidotomies, including one on the highway roadside. I doubt that there is ANY justification for your argument in favor of carrying knives to perform kitchen-table surgery at 35,000 feet. Besides, there are precious few physicians that have a clue how to do the procedure and even fewer who actually would do it under these circumstances, to the detriment of perhaps one person per year. Balanced against the losses we just suffered at the hand of a bunch of morons armed with knives. Do the math.<br>Face it, some people are just gonna die for lack of medical help.....<br><br>Jeffery S. Anderson, M.D.<br><br>