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"UK Pilots' Union OKs Use of Sky Marshals"
The Washington Times ^ | Jan 6, 2004 | JANE WARDELL (AP)

Posted on 01/06/2004 10:23:44 PM PST by neverdem

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "LONDON (AP) -- British pilots won assurances from the government Tuesday that they will be told when armed sky marshals are on board their flights, but demanded to know where the guard is seated and to be able to maintain regular contact.

Meanwhile, a British Airways flight from London to Washington, which was canceled twice last week over security fears, was delayed for the fourth consecutive day Tuesday because of U.S.-requested security checks.

On Tuesday, British Air Line Pilots' Association said it would advise its members - nearly 90 percent of Britain's 9,200 commercial pilots - not to fly with a sky marshal until the government tells them otherwise.

The union feels that the armed guards, which the U.S. Homeland Security Department said last week it would require on selected international flights crossing into American airspace, could be a threat to security.

After reluctantly agreeing to the deployment of government-trained and funded sky marshals, the union now wants a clear industrywide standard for its pilots, including legal and financial indemnity in case of shoot-outs.

"We do not agree in principle with having armed police sky marshals, but it is clear that is the way in which the government wishes to go, and we are not going to be in a position to be completely against the government's policies," Jim McAuslan, BALPA's general secretary, said after meeting with Transport Secretary Alistair Darling.

"Our policy remains the same. Until we have an agreed protocol in place, the advice to our members when confronted with a police sky marshal is that you do not fly," McAuslan said.

Earlier, Darling said the U.S. request for sky marshals on trans-Atlantic flights was "a responsible and prudent step at the present time.""