Please, no...

[peteryoung]

I have to say that this is not a particularly welcome sudden development, given that the US has once again hit the panic button.

We were forewarned about it back in May, but we, the mere, menial and unimportant cabin crew, were not advised if the identity of this person will also be kept from us aswell, or whether we'll all be playing Spot the Air Marshall instead of Spot the Terrorist. We are still in the dark and I can foresee crew refusing to fly unless we are kept in the loop, because I for one would like to know if any gun-toting Rambo I suddenly find on my flight is friend or foe.

The words "piss-up" and "brewery" come to mind. Get it sorted, Blunkett.

Comments

[scarlatti.livejournal.com]

Can I start to panic now or should I wait until Thursday? :(

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

Panic? Don't worry, we haven't had a crash for weeks and weeks. ;-)

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

What is there to worry about?

All of life is a risk, you could get killed by someone falling asleep while driving their car and crashing into your's or running you over on the pavement. You could get blown up by a gas leak in your basement. You could have a plane land on your house. A meteorite the size of a small house could hit the planet and wipe out all life ...

It's still safer, mile for mile, to fly than to travel in just about any other form of transport (ok, someone find the stats and prove me wrong!).

The majority of people who died on 9/11 weren't in the planes, they were at work.

You are flying on one of the best checked routes in the world (US to UK) and if you are flying on an American airline, there's a chance that you would have an air marshall on board already, and this has been true for so many many years.

I was actually surprised to find that the British airlines didn't already have air marshalls (having spent so long flying to and from the US, I just assumed there was probably one on most flights, rather than just 33 for the entire US).

El Al (the Israeli airline) has had armed marshalls on their flights for years, and there have been surprisingly few successful hijackings of their planes ...

... yes there is probably a statistically higher chance of something happening this week than there was in, say 1999, but trivially so. You will be fine (and if not, then I owe you a dinner, ok? <g>)

::HUGS::

Chris

Statistically speaking ...

[swisstone.livejournal.com]

... or, yes, but ...

In terms of deaths per passenger mile travelled, air is the safest means of travel. However, that statistic is artificially skewed towards air travel, because passenger journeys are on average significantly longer than those by other means of transport. It is my understanding that if you look at the figures in terms of deaths per passenger journey made, they start to look rather less reassuring.

But it's still pretty safe.

[scarlatti.livejournal.com]

Eep! *runs in little circles*

:)

[scarlatti.livejournal.com]

You're right, statistically speaking, I'm sure. But I'm still going to worry until dougs is safe on the ground at Dulles!

You be safe, too, if you make the cross-pond hop this week... :)

*hugs back*

[numbat.livejournal.com]

You couldn't pay me to get on a plane these days. It really isn't worth all the uncertainty and hassle.

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

Not even for GUFF?!

[numbat.livejournal.com]

Well Guff is something I wouldn't dissmiss out of hand. If it was just the flying I wouldn't think twice about saying yes. There are other complications in regards to an overseas trip which would need to be considered though. Not that anybody in Australia need worry about Guff anytime soon.

Duff on the other hand is right out as I made clear in a certain conversation last week. Not only are the hassles involved with travelling to the US much worse but I've been there twice which makes a Duff trip rather redundant.

[cardboard-col.livejournal.com]

I think you'll find it's actually much easier than you think. Terrorists are usually bearded and foreign-looking. Air Marshals, on the other hand, wear blue uniforms with gold braid, and look like this:



However, given the number of flights involved, and the small number of Air Marshals available, the RAF may have to lower its standards, and send Air Commodores and Group Captains ...

[numbat.livejournal.com]

Do any of those Air Commodores or Group Captains have handlebar moustaches? Because I could see something like that clouding the issue.

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

Actually, I suppose BA could bring back some of its retired ex-RAF captains to do the job but they'd be too busy chasing the young totty and emptying the drinks trolley to do much 'spotting of beardy, dangerous foreign-looking types', I'd say.