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CNN Live At Daybreak

Travelers Seem Relieved At Flight 587 Crash's Accident Status

Aired November 13, 2001 - 05:36   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And shifting gears once again, you may think the crash discouraged air travelers, but from L.A. to Dallas to Chicago, CNN's Jeff Flock found that that really wasn't the case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You might think this would have left us scared.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not really, no.

FLOCK: Already worried about airport security ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not any more careful than I was before.

FLOCK: That these latest images would have made us fearful of flying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it's time for us to go, it's time for us to go.

FLOCK: CNN queried travelers from L.A. to Chicago to Dallas and found them generally ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little bit concerned about safety today, but I decided to go ahead and fly.

FLOCK: Who, when those first images flashed across the screen of a plane down in New York, didn't think it was all happening again. This was Chicago's O'Hare.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened to those people, it was horrible and you can't -- you can't get it out of your mind. There is no normal anymore.

FLOCK: Not normal when this woman at LAX is relieved a crash seems only an accident.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think it's kind of weird to say that you're relieved when something's a mechanical problem with the plane, but I think that you'd rather have it be mechanical and sort of an accident than something that's been planned.

FLOCK (on camera): It may be that not many are scared, but American understands if you are. That's why they've announced that if you hold a ticket for an American flight and the end of the year, you can change your plans without penalty, and if you're flying this week, they'll let you cancel your flight and give you all your money back.

We couldn't find a single traveler planning to take them up on it.

FLOCK: At what point does this start to drive us crazy?

MARK REINECKE, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: It's an uneasy feeling, isn't it -- for all of us.

FLOCK: The head of the psychology department at Northwestern University says the uncertainty about air travel may eventually take its toll.

REINECKE: The accident, the explosion was unpredicted. Quite horrifying, but quite unpredictive and that unpredictability is one of the key components of fear.

FLOCK: And if it turns out terrorism brought down American 587, some of the brave travelers we talked to say they might feel different.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If something happened, if somebody got through it, and was able to crash another airplane into a neighborhood, I would question how safe are we.

FLOCK: How things have changed when we now accept disaster as long as it is random instead of on purpose.

I'm Jeff Flock, CNN in Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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