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"Air marshals cover only a few flights"



 
 
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  #11  
Old August 17th, 2004, 03:26 AM
Dennis G. Rears
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"Ender" wrote in message
news:908Uc.19110$X12.15444@edtnps84...
Mike wrote:
Air marshals cover only a few flights
Federal air marshals protect less than 5 percent of daily U.S.
flights, and the numbers are declining, despite assurances by the
federal government that most planes would be protected, according to
estimates provided by marshals, pilots and a retired airline
executive.
at http://www.washingtontimes.com/natio...1237-9757r.htm


True or not, it wouldn't be a problem if everyone believed that air
marshals were on every flight.


I wonder how effective they would actually be in a real terrorist situation.
Would any flight have more than one air Marshall, if not, a two prong attack
would be effective. You only need to have 7-8 bad guys on a plane. You
can preposition weapons in an airport in pieces within a month.

dennis


dennis


  #12  
Old August 17th, 2004, 04:15 AM
Fly Guy
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Ender wrote:

Mike wrote:


Federal air marshals protect less than 5 percent of daily U.S.


True or not, it wouldn't be a problem if everyone believed that
air marshals were on every flight.


What's even more logical is this:

After 9/11, the popular impression that it's best to cooperate with
hijackers was thrown out the window.

What most people now believe (I'm sure) is that it's best to combat
hijackers immediately - and not be just a plane-load of sheep.

What the US Gov't and FAA SHOULD have done after 9/11 is to add the
following line to the pre-recorded message played on all commercial
flights prior to take-off:

"You may be called upon by a member of the crew or fellow passengers
to assist them in disarming or detaining anyone threatening the safety
of this aircraft."

That single innocuous statement alone is worth more than a thousand
air-marshalls. It turns every flight into a plane full of air
marshalls. No self-respecting hijacker, upon hearing such a message
on test-flight after test-flight, would ever consider a hi-jacking
al-la 9/11 again.

Instead we have cowards at the White-house and FAA who let the
opportunity fade to slip a statement like that into the generic
pre-flight announcements.

While on the same topic -

Has there been any sort of FAA circular or white-paper (or
communication to airlines) regarding any sort of policy change for
dealing with hijackers in flight? Or have they been negligently
silent on the subject?
  #13  
Old August 17th, 2004, 04:15 AM
Fly Guy
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Ender wrote:

Mike wrote:


Federal air marshals protect less than 5 percent of daily U.S.


True or not, it wouldn't be a problem if everyone believed that
air marshals were on every flight.


What's even more logical is this:

After 9/11, the popular impression that it's best to cooperate with
hijackers was thrown out the window.

What most people now believe (I'm sure) is that it's best to combat
hijackers immediately - and not be just a plane-load of sheep.

What the US Gov't and FAA SHOULD have done after 9/11 is to add the
following line to the pre-recorded message played on all commercial
flights prior to take-off:

"You may be called upon by a member of the crew or fellow passengers
to assist them in disarming or detaining anyone threatening the safety
of this aircraft."

That single innocuous statement alone is worth more than a thousand
air-marshalls. It turns every flight into a plane full of air
marshalls. No self-respecting hijacker, upon hearing such a message
on test-flight after test-flight, would ever consider a hi-jacking
al-la 9/11 again.

Instead we have cowards at the White-house and FAA who let the
opportunity fade to slip a statement like that into the generic
pre-flight announcements.

While on the same topic -

Has there been any sort of FAA circular or white-paper (or
communication to airlines) regarding any sort of policy change for
dealing with hijackers in flight? Or have they been negligently
silent on the subject?
  #14  
Old August 17th, 2004, 05:27 PM
Mike
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mo

Federal agents added to flights
Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson yesterday told
senators that Secret Service agents and other armed federal officials
are being used to bolster the Federal Air Marshal Service's efforts to
guard airplanes from terrorist attacks.
at http://www.washtimes.com/national/20...1446-4920r.htm
  #15  
Old August 17th, 2004, 05:27 PM
Mike
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mo

Federal agents added to flights
Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson yesterday told
senators that Secret Service agents and other armed federal officials
are being used to bolster the Federal Air Marshal Service's efforts to
guard airplanes from terrorist attacks.
at http://www.washtimes.com/national/20...1446-4920r.htm
  #16  
Old August 17th, 2004, 10:53 PM
Zoeliz
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ou only need to have 7-8 bad guys on a plane.

So which are the flights not to go on? I'm planning a trip between the UK and
the US in a few weeks and I'm getting frightened of taking the trip.

Zoe


  #17  
Old August 17th, 2004, 10:53 PM
Zoeliz
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ou only need to have 7-8 bad guys on a plane.

So which are the flights not to go on? I'm planning a trip between the UK and
the US in a few weeks and I'm getting frightened of taking the trip.

Zoe


  #18  
Old August 17th, 2004, 11:02 PM
JohnT
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"Zoeliz" wrote in message
...
ou only need to have 7-8 bad guys on a plane.


So which are the flights not to go on? I'm planning a trip between the UK and
the US in a few weeks and I'm getting frightened of taking the trip.

Zoe

Why? Travelling by air, even taking into account the fact that occasionally
really nasty things happen, is 99.99 per cent safe.

JohnT


  #19  
Old August 17th, 2004, 11:02 PM
JohnT
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"Zoeliz" wrote in message
...
ou only need to have 7-8 bad guys on a plane.


So which are the flights not to go on? I'm planning a trip between the UK and
the US in a few weeks and I'm getting frightened of taking the trip.

Zoe

Why? Travelling by air, even taking into account the fact that occasionally
really nasty things happen, is 99.99 per cent safe.

JohnT


  #20  
Old August 17th, 2004, 11:58 PM
R J Carpenter
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"JohnT" wrote in message
...

Why? Travelling by air, even taking into account the fact that

occasionally
really nasty things happen, is 99.99 per cent safe.


Very few people would make air trips if flying were that unsafe. There
would be a crash about once a day in the USA.

Guesstimate that each of the top 25 airports in the USA have an average of
300 departures per day (some have much more). That makes vaguely 7500
departures per day, just counting the major airports. JohnT threw out the
number of one problem per ten thousand flights. That would mean roughly one
airliner crash per day in the USA. There have been about 1000 days since
"9/11". IIRC, it has been a number of years since a mainline US airliner
crash.

Even on the disastrous day of 9/11, if you had a scheduled departure from
any US airport chosen at random between 7 and 10 am, the chance of being on
one of the crashed airliners was probably not more than one in a thousand -
and that is the ONLY "bad" day on record.

The historical incidence of crashes is around one in a million takeoffs for
reputable airlines, not one in ten thousand. Is your likelihood of dying
tomorrow from other causes as low as one in a million? People only live
about 25,000 - 30,000 days.





 




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