British aircraft pilots have reacted angrily to government plans to place armed marshals on some international flights, saying guns on planes could fall into the hands of would-be hijackers.
Transport Secretary Mr Alistair Darling said the decision to
deploy the marshals - a move made after warnings from the
United States about a heightened terror threat - would boost
public confidence in travelling, but pilots warned it could be
dangerous if rules of engagement were not defined.
The marshals will be dressed as normal passengers. They
will not be deployed on all flights but used "where
appropriate".
But General-Secretary of the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA), Mr Jim McAuslan said: "We cannot agree with the government's decision to put armed guards on aircraft as we believe this will do more harm than good."
"We do not want guns on planes."
BALPA said the government had not informed pilots about
marshals' rules of engagement or even said whether pilots would
be made aware of a marshal's presence on board, raising serious
questions about who would be in command of a flight.
But Mr Darling stressed that pilots would be informed if a sky
marshal had been placed on their flight. "The captain of the
aircraft would know - for perfectly obvious reasons. He has
got to fly the aircraft," he told BBC radio.
Mr Darling described marshals as a "last line of defence" and
one of a series of measures being put in place to try to stop
terror attacks - including improved screening of passengers
and luggage. "Of course the best thing to do is to try to stop people getting on to the plane in the first place," he added.
Six flights between Paris and Los Angeles were cancelled
last week amid fears in Washington of an attack similar to
those of September 11th, 2001.
