Air Marshals. . .

[Mike]

So, uhm . . .

What do you guys think about that guy getting shot by the air marshals?
(heeech, this could be a touchy subject)

[Sleek-Jet]

wellllllll.... since you asked.

I'm sorry the guy is dead, and I realize that he is reported to have suffered being bi-polar, but in todays climate I think it was handled as expected.  An aggitated man was running around on a loaded 757 claiming to have a bomb, he then ran off the airplane, trying to get to the terminal ( where there are even more people).  I would say the air marshals had a short period of time to decide which action to take in this situation. 

Reminds me of the old saying about accidents boards... they take 6 months second guessing what the pilot had 6 seconds to think about. 

If the guy was bi-polar and didn't take his medication, why was he getting on an airliner???  Even with his disorder, why did he start running around the airplane saying he had a bomb??  Maybe it was a suicide by proxy, we'll probably never know.

I'm sure though, that when this is all played out, the air marshal(s) involved will be the evil doers, and the poor man traveling to see his 16 grandchildren with his wife of 50 years, on their anniversary, will be the innocent victim... 

[leiafee]

In this case the guy shot was unlucky.  But that's what happens when you have armed guards.  Sometimes they shoot the wrong people.  It's a side effect you have o accept if you accept (and it's hard to deny!) that human are fallible.  No use wailing and gnashing your teeth after the fact.  Bet its the same people complaining about the injustice as were clamouring to be protected by the guns int he first place.

Rights and wrongs of this case aside I just hate the notion of armed guards on aeroplanes.  Always did from the start.  For me the risk of someone actually getting a weapon on board is far less alarming than the risk of the would-be hijacker coshing the bloke with the gun and suddenly having a far more lethal weapon than a smuggled nail clippers...

[Mike]

Ok, here's my $0.02

I agree with both of you in a way. Well, they do have armed guards on planes now. It's a very sad fact actually and should never have happened, but it did.
But knowing this you shouldn't mess around. You shouldn't fly if you have the flu or some other disease so you don't get anybody else sick. Too often people ignore that and I've had passengers complaining about ear or tooth aches because they couldn't compensate for the pressure differential.
BUT if you know you have a medical condition that makes you "a bit nutty" and you know it can get you shot THEN DON'T FLY without taking your medication!!! Come on!! There is no math invloved!!!
I think if you do something that stupid, you deserve getting shot. The air marshals didn't just appear out of nowhere, they have been around for a long time, even before 9/11.

What I hate the most about this whole thing (and it comes from being a firefighter) is what Sleek already touched on in his post.
The poor guy has seconds to make up his mind, and 6 MONTHS later everybody is on his back because numerous porfessional determined after weeks of investigation that it wasn't the best way he could have handled the situation. Give me a break!
I remember when a FD helicopter crashed in the city a couple of years ago and killed the little injured girl who was supposed to be airlifted out. You know who got sued among the helicopter manifacturer and many other people ? The fire captain who called in the air lift!
Aparently they found out after years of investigation that the little girl didn't really need to be airlifted according to her injuries.
Now, I wanna see any of these lawers and experts in the captains situation and see what they would do: Carnage, people screaming, people bleeding, mulitple car crash, people panicking, one girl criticly injured.
Now you have 6 seconds to make up your mind...
It just makes me want to scream out loud, really....

[Ted_Stryker]

My .02 cents ...

I agree that it is sad this guy got shot, especially in light of his alleged mental condition.  At the same time, I fully support the actions of the Air Marshall.

Even a bi-polar individual is more than capable of having a bomb.  If it had turned out that the guy really did have one, there would be no second guessing as to how appropriate the actions of the Air Marshall were.  It is only because none was found that (it seems to me anyway) there is controversy in the media here.

On one of the morning news programs, a well-known female interviewer asked why the Air Marshall couldn't have aimed to injur instead of kill.  Can you imagine if the guy did have a bomb, and had only been winged by the Air Marshall, still able to get to the triggering device?  A plane full of people and fuel parked at a gate area with even more people and other aircraft and fueling systems nearby?

It's a sad situation, but there is no other action the Air Marshall could have taken given the two warnings, and lack of co-operation from the perpetrator in this situation.

I would hope that if the situation were to happen like that again, the same result would be taken by the Air Marshall(s), and that they don't start second-guessing themselves.  Then we really are in even more danger!

Just my thoughts.  I may be slightly prejudiced towards the side of the Air Marshall because I used to be a police dispatcher, and I've seen bad things happen when a lack of prompt, decisive action is taken in the interests of too much caution and not the greater public safety.

[Plthijnx]

......*snip*...Even a bi-polar individual is more than capable of having a bomb.  If it had turned out that the guy really did have one, there would be no second guessing as to how appropriate the actions of the Air Marshall were.  It is only because none was found that (it seems to me anyway) there is controversy in the media here......*snip*

my thoughts exactly

On one of the morning news programs, a well-known female interviewer asked why the Air Marshall couldn't have aimed to injur instead of kill. ....*snip*

that's the Eutopian media asking those asinine questions. IMHO.

[Ted_Stryker]

To show you the difference in times, some years back (at least 10 years ago) we had a local helicopter pilot here (one of the traffic reporters) hijacked by a woman trying to get him to help with the escape of her boyfriend out of jail.  She did not know that this guy was a former Vietnam chopper pilot, and well aquainted with the use of firearms, and that he carried one on board.  She threatened him, and he ended up shooting her to save both himself, and his chopper, as well as to stop her from suceeding with the jail break.  Back then, the press actually lauded him for his actions.

Oh how times have changed!  Now those that protect us are the ones having fingers pointed at them by the media.

It does make one wonder how we got to this point.

[Plthijnx]

....*snip*....It does make one wonder how we got to this point.

somewhat of the perversion of the law and the "dumbing down of society."

[Ted_Stryker]

Agreed!

[leiafee]

Strikes me as similar situation to the bloke who got shot by the police here shortly after the Tube bombings.  Sad that they made a mistake and someone who was not actually a terrorist (I stop short of saying entirely blameless), got killed, but these things do happen.

Everyone makes mistakes in their jobs.  A lot of us are lucky enough that the worst that can happen as a result is one too many cases of baked beans ordered, or having to  dig the backup tapes out, or apologise to an irate customer. 

The same doesn't hold true for all professions.  That some people are willing to do those jobs anyway should earn them respect and sympathy, not brickbats.