Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Comprehensive New York Times Blog Post on Current Airport Security Issues

NYT FiveThirtyEight blog by Nate Silver discusses airport security and current public backlash.

Some excerpts:
  • short mention of false positives
  • derivation of basis for statement "My guess is that the fraction of Americans who travel by plane each year is in fact probably not more than about 1 in 3." As opposed to "Gallup poll conducted in 2008, for instance, found that just 44 percent of Americans reported having flown at least once in the past year."
  • frequent fliers — those who take 4 or more round trips per year — account for the 57 percent majority of all air travel, even though they make up just 18 percent of air travelers and something like 7 percent of the overall American population.
Unclear where frequent flyer = 4 or more round trips/year came from.

No comments: