Portugal rejects sky marshal call

BBC NEWS ^ | 1/06/04

[kattracks]

Portugal has joined Denmark and Sweden in rejecting US calls to post armed guards on international flights.

The country's civil aviation authority said that putting loaded guns aboard an aircraft could endanger it.

A better course would be to cancel any flight against which there was a credible terrorist threat, it argued.

The decision means that plans to have armed guards, known as sky marshals, on board US-bound planes have now been rejected by three countries.

While the US has introduced new checks at home, its efforts to tighten security on flights to the US as well have met with strong opposition.

The director of Portugal's National Civil Aviation Institute, Joaquim Carvalho, told the AFP news agency: "We will not authorise loaded guns on Portuguese planes, therefore we will not allow armed guards."

He added: "If there is specific information about a particular flight which justifies having armed guards on board, what we would consider is cancelling the flight."

Pilots hostile

Elsewhere, the UK Government's announcement that it would put armed marshals on some flights "where appropriate" has drawn a hostile response from airlines and pilots.

British Airways has expressed concerns about having armed guards on board aircraft, while the holiday airline Thomas Cook has said it will ground any flights on which sky marshals are placed.

The British pilots' union, Balpa, says that if the security risk to a flight is great enough to warrant an armed guard, it should not fly at all.

Balpa is calling for an emergency world summit of airline pilots to consider the US demand for sky marshals.

In the meantime, the union is to have talks with the UK Government on Tuesday to discuss the issue.

Brazil has begun fingerprinting and photographing US citizens flying into its airports, apparently in retaliation for new security measures at US airports.

The Brazilian move came as the stringent new US regulations, affecting most tourists, were introduced.

Everyone entering the United States with a visa will now have fingerprints and photographs taken and scrutinised.

People on the visa waiver scheme - such as tourists from much of Europe, Japan and Australia - are not yet affected, but those on work visas are.

[CasearianDaoist]

Ban the flights.

[Support Free Republic]

Rank	Location	Receipts	Donors/Avg		Freepers/Avg		Monthlies
21	Michigan	260.00	7	37.14	373	0.70	95.00	9

Thanks for donating to Free Republic!

Move your locale up the leaderboard!

[KantianBurke]

the sooner the better. they don't want to cooperate? Fine. Don't bother coming into our neighborhood. Sheesh don't those countries know they just planted a big "we're defenseless and ready for a hijacking" sign on their planes?

[DB]

"The British pilots' union, Balpa, says that if the security risk to a flight is great enough to warrant an armed guard, it should not fly at all."

Your choice.

[Just another Joe]

Don't ban the flights. Just don't let them past the international limits.
Make 'em go back every time.

[CasearianDaoist]

Yes, I like that much better. Make them land in Canada and do not let them across the borders - bore them into submission.

[marktwain]

The country's civil aviation authority said that putting loaded guns aboard an aircraft could endanger it.

A better course would be to cancel any flight against which there was a credible terrorist threat, it argued.

It is hard to believe that these countries once raised vikings or a worldwide empire. This is some of the most stupid posing that I have seen. What a rift with America, where the pilots are actively lobbying to be armed, and the Clinton holdout in the transportation department puts all the stumbling blocks he can in the way.

It does seem to be a "come hither" to terrorists.

[CasearianDaoist]

The funny thing is is that if 911 happened to them they would immediately start deporting their Muslims, and if flights such as 911 visited their shores from the US they would ban all flights from the US, period.

The childishness of socialists - everything to them is an abstraction; everything in this would is merely fuel for their pissant and vainglorious moral vanity.

[sd-joe]

Portugal has joined Denmark and Sweden in rejecting US calls to post armed guards on international flights.

Let them land in Canada and bus into the US.

[G.Mason]

With any luck, Florida will become a residents paradise once again.

[G.Mason]

"It is hard to believe that these countries once raised vikings or a worldwide empire."

Incestuous relations comes at a price.

[freedomcrusader]

Well, getting to the U.S. from Denmark, Sweden, and Portugal just got a lot more difficult, as there will not be any direct flights soon.

[-YYZ-]

"Let them land in Canada and bus into the US."

Or they could even fly on to the US from Canada, on a flight with a sky marshal. (Canada has been putting armed sky marshals on flights since shortly after 9-11).

[OXENinFLA]

ATTENTION TERRORIST: WE DO NOT CARRY GUNS ON THESE PLANES.


How dumb is this?

[KantianBurke]

I think the issue is they don't want marshals period. Of course if we have intel that a bad guy is going to be on a plane it shouldn't fly. Board the passengers, then have SWAT take the guy down before it takes off. But the countries in question don't want marshals ever and in any circumstancces. STOOOOPID!

[sd-joe]

The problem is - Do you trust the intel services to KNOW which flight is really at risk?

The Intel services, as needed as they are, do not have a good record of really being on top of things.

Sky marshals are needed on ALL flights, if they are going to be effective.

[Darksheare]

"has drawn a hostile response from airlines and pilots."
At least until said airline companies start losing planes due to terrorboys using them for their sick pplans.
Then they'll be screaming for help.