Airliner Edict Smacks of Wild West

Re “U.S. Calls for Marshals on Foreign Jets,” Dec. 30: Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge’s edict “ordering” non-U.S. airlines to install trained and armed marshals in aircraft flying into the United States has been met with more panic and indignation than acclaim. Whatever happened to clarity of thought?

A comment from David Learmount, safety editor of Flight International magazine, is peculiarly apt and probably fairly representative: “Gunfight at the OK Corral straight down the aisle of an aircraft? I think it’s stupid.”

Profoundly so. It might play well on celluloid and contribute to the universal culture of mindlessness, possibly even hand President Bush another bonus term in the White House. It certainly has that pungent whiff of electioneering about it. But in the real world it can only add to the fears and anxiety arising from Bush’s childish “war on terror” doctrine that followed the twin towers incident and sent the airline industry into a spiral dive and putative decay.

Disneyland, anyone?

Dave Diss

Glengowrie, Australia

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Ah, to be lulled into a false sense of security! How perfect for a few Al Qaeda operatives to sign up for air marshal duty for one of these foreign airlines and then use their “required” weapons to take over the plane. These individuals are highly educated, with no criminal background ... other than believing in their mission to destroy America. How can you screen for this type of applicant? Ridge had better rethink that idea or we could have a real mess (of our own doing) shortly.

Dave Gunall

Ventura

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I talked to our son, the airline pilot, and he tells me that the comment by Howard R. Krauss (letter, Dec. 29) that the airliner crew should be completely remote from the passenger cabin is not far off the mark. Krauss suggests a separate entrance should be used by the crew, which I first thought to be extreme. However, the Israeli airline El Al, which has an enviable record of protection from hijackers, allows its crews to enter from the passenger cabins, through “impervious” doors, and they don’t come out until they land at their destinations. They have food pantries and lavatories.

Something for the Homeland Security people to consider and not take another two years to institute. It seems to be working for the Israelis.

Stan Greenfield

Woodland Hills