Air Marshals Pulled From Key Flights

MSNBC News ^ | July 29, 2003 | Brock N. Meeks

[XHogPilot]

WASHINGTON, July 29 — Despite renewed warnings about possible airline hijackings, the Transportation Security Administration has alerted federal air marshals that as of Friday they will no longer be covering cross-country or international flights, MSNBC.com has learned. The decision to drop coverage on flights that many experts consider to be at the highest risk of attack...

[XHogPilot]

Stupidity in the TSA's Leadership knows no bounds...

Terrorists have just been told which flights have no FAMs onboard!

P.S. I'm still waiting for the TSA to acknowledge my application to join the Federal Flight Deck Officer (armed pilot) training program....

[Rodney King]

Perhaps they are lying.

[Buckwheats]

Nobody could be this stupid, not even a bureaucrat....must be a fake-out....something must be up this weekend.

[grania]

Stupidity in the TSA's Leadership knows no bounds...

Marshalls should be on every flight. If not, a new kind of flight attendant should be there...with military training and the ability to physically stop terrorists. Dressed for combat if necessary. (LaraCroft, Flight Attendent)

Since 911, the prime objective has been to keep people using the airlines. Charge airline passengers what a flight actually costs. Too expensive? Then they should explain why railroads have to make a profit, and they don't.

[dawn53]

disinformation

[sine_nomine]

Utterly inconsistent with what we have been doing since 9-11, but in harmony with faking out the enemy.

I know the flight crews are ready, willing, and able to combat terrorists. Their lives are on the line. Many passengers, including me, would gladly join the fracas if one started.

[OXENinFLA]

HUH?

[OXENinFLA]

WASHINGTON, July 29 —  Despite renewed warnings about possible airline hijackings, the Transportation Security Administration has alerted federal air marshals that as of Friday they will no longer be covering cross-country or international flights, MSNBC.com has learned. The decision to drop coverage on flights that many experts consider to be at the highest risk of attack apparently stems from a policy decision to rework schedules so that air marshals don’t have to incur the expense of staying overnight in hotels.

Oh you need the whole paragraph to fully enjoy the TSA's incompetence.

[eno_]

LaraCroft, Flight Attendent

Now we know for sure people have not been flying recently. In the real world, it's more like Hillary Clinton, Flight Attendant.

[szweig]

Two planes are leaving for the same place at the same time. One has air marshalls and full passenger searches as they now do. The other has searches but also has no problem with passengers who have a CCW permit carrying on the flight. Which plane will fill up first and which would you rather be aboard, hmmm?

[chainsaw]

Train and ARM the pilots - NOW

[Thane_Banquo]

Here's a possible solution:

1) Get rid of the air marshalls on these flights.
2) Deport all immigrants from Islamic nations like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Libya, etc.

[wita]

Precisely the reason I do not fly, having flown for 22 years as a military pilot.

[Poohbah]

The other has searches but also has no problem with passengers who have a CCW permit carrying on the flight. Which plane will fill up first and which would you rather be aboard, hmmm?

Depends. How many swathy-skinned folk with Vermont domiciles are boarding?

[KCmark]

Let's see:

There may be a gun on the plane, but we don't know who has it.
VS
We know there is (at least) a gun on the plane, carried by someone qualified for CCW.

I'll take knowing. One ticket please.

[eno_]

I fear we are about to pay for the joke the TSA is with more innocent lives. Homeland Security is the one issure that could sink the Republicans. We have to get serious about this.

[southland]

I also am a former Air Force pilot I do not like to fly AND HAVE NOT FLOWN SINCE 9/11. The inspectors should inspect all muslems and people from Islamic countries to make flying safer.

[nerdwithamachinegun]

Nobody could be this stupid, not even a bureaucrat....must be a fake-out....something must be up this weekend.
I'd like to be as optomistic about that as you are.
If the last two years of reporting on the Air Marshal program are at all credible then this fits right in line with them.

If not, then the whole Air Marshal organization is run by the smartest bunch of dissemblers in government.

[End Times Sentinel]

I know the flight crews are ready, willing, and able to combat terrorists. Their lives are on the line. Many passengers, including me, would gladly join the fracas if one started.

 

Excellent point.  Does anyone really believe that a plane full of people will still sit idly by while 5 rag heads with box cutters try to commandeer the plane?  Look what happened in rural PA when Todd Beamer and his fellow passengers learned what had occurred in New York and Washington.  This isn't the soft target strike it once was.  Ask Richard Reid.

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

[astounded]

I agree - in my opinion, there is no way a team of 5 muslims could take over a commercial jet in the US. Not only the flight crew, but all able-bodied passengers would join to stop it. Even if they had a firearm, passengers that know they will likely die anyway would be willing to fight. The muslims will certainly have to expend all their ammunition. As for the flight crews, last week I was on an ATA flight from Chicago to Florida and the cabin crew consisted of 3 very able-bodied males who certainly looked capable of resistance - I am noticing more males than before among the cabin crew and consider this to be a direct off-shoot of the terrorist threat.