When will George "Rambo" Bush understand that the real world is not Hollywood? Characters played by Sylvester Stallone did not win Vietnam; the USA lost.
If there is so much risk to a flight that Rambo thinks it needs an armed guard, it should not operate.
One guard is not enough. Many groups who have taken over a flight have a "sleeper" or two to take out the guard/s.
The groups that threaten aircraft would soon discover who the marshals are. Just watch the security check area or get passenger lists. That would enable them to avoid the marshals, or, more likely, disarm them and use their weapons.
Sky marshals will have low velocity ammunition so as not to penetrate the aircraft skin. Will the authorities supply similar ammunition to hijackers?
As a member of the public, with the risk of a gun fight overhead, I would prefer all aircraft with sky marshals to be banned from European airspace. I would prefer not to fly, or to fly with another airline, if an armed marshal is on board.
Stopping hijackers before they board is the only sound solution.
Ian Kirby Ashford, Middlesex, UK
My only question for those vehemently opposed to the idea of sky marshals is: do they seriously believe that the hijacks of 11 September would have ended in the way they did if sky marshals had been on board those aircraft? We may still have lost all four aircraft and their passengers, but those working in the Twin Towers and the Pentagon would not have died. I do not understand their case.
Mike Strong Brussels, Belgium
Source: Flight International
