TA-THREATS: BA Cancels Second U.S. Flight

Europe's biggest airline, British Airways, canceled a London-Washington flight Friday as fears of a Sept. 11-style attack grounded a U.S.-bound plane for the seventh time in just over a week.

story.news.yahoo.com.../nm/20040102/ts_nm/security_aviation_dc" target="_blank" class="postlink">NEWS.YAHOO.COM

Looks like things are going to be taken more seriously now as The British government has meanwhile announced that it will be putting armed sky marshals on selected British airline flights to the United States.

[edit on 9-12-2004 by Banshee]

They're getting VERY aggressive on security now and British Airways is not happy. The introduction of sky marshals puts a great danger on the lives of crew and passengers, one wrong shot could pierce the pressure vessel and kill them all. Its not a question of the lesser of 2 evils.

I do NOT see why they WONT drain the pilets or the crew how to work none leathal eltrical shock guns

they dont need a freaking "gun"

Firstly,
a bullet hole in the fuselage of a plane will not depressurize the cabin. It won't do much but make an annoying noise that can be easily "patched" with something as simple as a pillow. The plane's pressure regulator, which is automatically activated any time there is a change in ambient air pressure (such as with a high or low pressure weather front), will handle the minimal pressure difference caused by such a small hole.
Secondly,
Sky Marshals are equipped with a special kind of bullet called frangible ammunition. The link will explain in detail what frangible ammunition is, but in brief it is designed to fragment on impact with little ricochet. It won't penetrate the fuselage or the cabin windows. Specifically, US Sky Marshals use Glaser Safety Slugs, which are a type of frangible ammo.
Between the frangibles, bean bag ammo, and rubber bullets, the Sky Marshals have many options other than your standard full metal jacket shell.

Yes, there are risks and hazards. But the training and qualification a Sky Marshal is required to have makes "accidents" less likely. In the interest of security & safety, I really think they've made the best choices possible.

-B.

Tabloids are reporting more on these cancelled BA flights.
Obviously, take with a LARGE grain of salt. Keep in mind, however, previous "chatter" about female suicide bombers.

Mirror.co.uk link

A BA flight to Washington was cancelled at the last minute yesterday after an intelligence tip-off that a woman suicide bomber planned to blow up the plane over the US capital....US security services told Scotland Yard the woman - almost certainly linked to al-Qaeda - intended to hide eight to 12 ounces of plastic explosive in her vagina.

In spite of all the new security at airports, plastic explosives are still very difficult to detect when carried on (or in) the body.
Bags, coats and shoes are run through the x-ray scanner before you can get anywhere near departure gates, which would reveal anything suspicious, but not so for the passengers themselves.

-B.