- Pilots are demanding an urgent meeting with ministers
over the decision to place armed sky marshals on passenger jets flying
across the Atlantic, following heightened concern about terrorist attacks.
-
- The British Air Line Pilots' Association (Balpa) wrote
to Alistair Darling, the Secretary of State for Transport, yesterday calling
for a meeting to discuss the policy which it believes is "dangerous"
and flawed. The association, which has said it does "not want guns
on planes" has advised pilots to refuse to fly if they do not feel
happy carrying armed marshals posing as passengers.
-
- Mr Darling said he would meet the pilots to discuss their
misgivings and said they would be told when an undercover marshal was on
a flight.
-
- The Secretary of State defended the Government's decision
to allow plain-clothes officers with low-velocity weapons on selected flights,
saying it was a "responsible and prudent step" that would be
used "where appropriate".
-
- He said their use was "only one of a number of measures"
and "a last line of defence", together with increased screening
of bags, to deter terrorists. But he warned that passengers could face
longer queues at airports because of the "heightened" state of
security.
-
- "The best thing is to try to stop people getting
on the aeroplane in the first place," he said on BBC Radio 4's Today
programme.
-
- "Most of our efforts are rightly focused on the
screening of passengers' baggage."
-
- Sky marshals are expected to begin deployment in the
next 24 hours on transatlatic flights to and from the UK.
-
- The Department of Transport denied that ministers had
caved in to pressure from the US government to put the marshals on planes.
But yesterday the Bush administration made it clear it would begin asking
foreign airlines to place armed officers on planes to and from the United
States, or flying through American airspace, in an attempt to thwart terror
attacks. The new regulation, which takes effect immediately, came just
one day after the British announcement.
-
- "We are asking international air carriers to take
this protective action as part of our ongoing effort to make air travel
safe for Americans and visitors alike," the Homeland Security Secretary,
Tom Ridge, said in a statement.
-
- American officials said such requests would be made only
when there were security concerns relating to specific flights.
-
- "We will then notify the carrier that, based on
information we received, we require a law enforcement officer to be on
the plane," Dennis Murphy, a spokesman for Mr Ridge, commented. It
is assumed that the armed officers will be supplied by the home-base country
of each air carrier.
-
- "What we are saying here is we expect this level
of co-operation from all nations," Mr Murphy added. "This step
is in case we might not get that same level of co-operation that we've
received thus far from our closest allies. We anticipate the same level
of co-operation from all air carriers that fly to and out of the US."
-
- The British government was criticised by aviation experts,
pilots and senior MPs for adopting the American example. Gwyneth Dunwoody,
the Labour chairwoman of the iHouse of Commons Transport Select Committee,
said she did not think the Government had "a fully thought-through
policy" and should not be following the American measures.
-
- "Security is not, unfortunately, about somebody
waving a gun around in a pressurised machine. It is actually a rather more
subtle and a rather more long-term investment than that," she said.
"The Americans have got their ideas on security all wrong and have
not taken advice from those people that know about it; and it looks as
if the American government have influenced the British in this and I don't
think it's necessarily a good idea."
-
- UK airlines joined Balpa in criticising the government
plan. They argued that having guns on a plane could increase the threat.
-
- A spokeswoman for British Airways said: "We feel
it is best to have strong security on the ground and that is where the
focus of attention should be. We have always been of the opinion that if
it is not safe to fly, then we will not fly."
-
- © 2003 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
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- http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/transport/story.jsp?story=476929
-
-
- Comment
From Alien Chaser
12-30-3
-
- Jeff - Maybe I missed something...
-
- After 911, the TSA ordered cockpit doors strengthened
to preclude unwarranted entry. Homeland Security cautions there may be
Al Quida-trained pilots on some aircraft, hence the need for armed air
marshals.
-
- What are they to do? They cannot enter the cockpit!
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