Free Republic

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A Delta Air Lines flight from Los Angeles to Florida was diverted to Albuquerque early Friday after a passenger sprayed the first-class cabin with a water bottle, tried to open a cabin door and threatened to blow up the aircraft. Crew members and passengers on Delta flight 2148 to Tampa subdued Stanley Dwayne Sheffield, 46. He was taken into federal custody after the plane landed at 1:30 a.m. Friday. FBI Supervisory Special Agent Darrin Jones said authorities do not believe the incident was related to terrorism. Sheffield, whose hometown in Florida wasn't disclosed by investigators, was charged...

In the wake of last week's foiled terrorist plot to blow up 10 U.S. jetliners flying between Britain and the United States, sensible people are reconsidering our government's stubborn opposition to profiling. Among the sensible elsewhere are officials of the British Department for Transport, who are proposing ethnic profiling as a means of more effectively identifying potential terrorists. The predictable chorus of opposition has chimed in on cue. The Muslim Council of Britain has warned the government to think ``very carefully,'' saying that including ``behavioral pattern recognition'' in passenger profiling would lead to discrimination. A spokesman for the council said,...

Last Updated: Tuesday, 30 December, 2003, 16:50 GMT Union advises pilots not to fly Airport security has increased Airline pilots should not take off with armed marshals on board, the British Airline Pilots' Association has said. The union (Balpa) has advised members not to fly until agreement is reached on the roles of marshals. The announcement came after consulting lawyers to see if pilots could legally refuse to fly their plane with an armed police officer on board. UK ministers say the move is a "responsible and prudent" response to the heightened terror alert in the US. Balpa has also...

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta has based airline security on three policies: improved screening, air marshals, and strengthened cockpit doors. While all are helpful, no one can ignore the evidence from the last couple of weeks that all three policies are simply not enough. If the administration is going to be serious about keeping terrorists out of the cockpit, Mineta and Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge need to being considering something they have long resisted — arming pilots.Six months after September 11th, the Washington Post reported that there were fewer than 1,000 U.S. Air Marshals, possibly a lot fewer, but...