Step Back Further

Trena Markus, the aerospace engineer working on the development of the C-17, a cargo jet for the Air Force, totally misses the ultimate implications of her job (“On The Job,” May 24). In the same paragraph, she says both that she steps back and keeps in mind what she is working on in terms of the big picture, and, “I have a big responsibility. Lives count on my work.”

Whose lives, Trena? The lives of the pilots? I hardly think so. We have long had the technology to build safe airplanes. The only lives that count on your work are the lives that will be taken by the tanks that you are helping to transport! Unfortunately, Markus has much more stepping back to do.

BRAD HECHT

Santa Monica