What having a sky marshal really means

I hope your suggestion wasn't serious- remember when terrorists took over a
theater in Russia and the special forces sprayed in a "non-lethal" disabling
agent? Around half of the hostages also died from the effects as well.

What makes you think a significant number of the elderly or less healthy
passengers would also die from hypoxia? How many would suffer permanent
brain damage, or strokes or heart attacks?

I think I would rather take my chances having a trained air marshal on board
even if they had to start shooting Glaser safety slugs around the cabin. If
a terrorist does not control the flight deck they do not control the
airplane, and pilots are trained to keep the door closed and locked under
any and all circumstances.

From what I understand, many of those people dies due to the lack of
information about what substance was introduced to their systems. I think
that the agency involved did not want to release that information to the
medical staff, and thus lives were lost hours after the hostages were
removed.

I do agree though that I would probably prefer an armed good guy (even the
pilots) shooting the bad guys than using means that were not meant to be
used as incapacitators.


"Viperdoc" wrote in message
...
I hope your suggestion wasn't serious- remember when terrorists took over
a
theater in Russia and the special forces sprayed in a "non-lethal"
disabling
agent? Around half of the hostages also died from the effects as well.

What makes you think a significant number of the elderly or less healthy
passengers would also die from hypoxia? How many would suffer permanent
brain damage, or strokes or heart attacks?

I think I would rather take my chances having a trained air marshal on
board
even if they had to start shooting Glaser safety slugs around the cabin.
If
a terrorist does not control the flight deck they do not control the
airplane, and pilots are trained to keep the door closed and locked under
any and all circumstances.

"Viperdoc" wrote in message
...
I hope your suggestion wasn't serious- remember when terrorists took over
a
theater in Russia and the special forces sprayed in a "non-lethal"
disabling
agent? Around half of the hostages also died from the effects as well.

What makes you think a significant number of the elderly or less healthy
passengers would also die from hypoxia? How many would suffer permanent
brain damage, or strokes or heart attacks?

I think I would rather take my chances having a trained air marshal on
board
even if they had to start shooting Glaser safety slugs around the cabin.
If
a terrorist does not control the flight deck they do not control the
airplane, and pilots are trained to keep the door closed and locked under
any and all circumstances.

Right!!

Even if an Air Marshall takes a couple innocents, that is the risk that the
situation dictates. It's a trade-off; losing a few innocents versus losing
the entire plane and possibly a massacre on the ground as well. Combat
commanders have to make such decision all the time, and they don't always
work out like in the movies (the majority of citizens basis for
understanding how things work).

Regardless of the ammunition a Marshal uses, it is highly unlikely to cause
a catastrophic failure of the aircraft. In any case, you must keep the bad
guys from turning the aircraft into a weapon AT ALL COSTS.

Half of the hostages died in part because 1) inadequate numbers of
medical personnel were immediately onhand due to poor planning 2) those
that WERE there werent told what was going on or what was used 3)
non-lethal is a misnomer (ANYTHING can be toxic in the wrong amounts,
including water and oxygen, let alone inhaled sedatives/anesthetics)

The decompression scenario may work, but you would have to disarm the
oxygen masks or they would deploy with depressurization. And again,
different people tolerate events differently. An otherwise healthy
person may survive without supplemental oxygen, but a person who is
marginal may not. If the masks deploy, then whats to prevent said bad
guys from commandeering masks to stay with the fight?

Dave

Viperdoc wrote:

I hope your suggestion wasn't serious- remember when terrorists took over a
theater in Russia and the special forces sprayed in a "non-lethal" disabling
agent? Around half of the hostages also died from the effects as well.

What makes you think a significant number of the elderly or less healthy
passengers would also die from hypoxia? How many would suffer permanent
brain damage, or strokes or heart attacks?

I think I would rather take my chances having a trained air marshal on board
even if they had to start shooting Glaser safety slugs around the cabin. If
a terrorist does not control the flight deck they do not control the
airplane, and pilots are trained to keep the door closed and locked under
any and all circumstances.

"Dave S" wrote in message
hlink.net...
|
| The decompression scenario may work, but you would have to disarm the
| oxygen masks or they would deploy with depressurization. And again,
| different people tolerate events differently. An otherwise healthy
| person may survive without supplemental oxygen, but a person who is
| marginal may not. If the masks deploy, then whats to prevent said bad
| guys from commandeering masks to stay with the fight?
|

Well, the bad guys would then be on a very short leash.