Air Marshals or Trigger-happy Rambos?

Plastic picks up this article from the Philadelphia Inquirer: Disturbance on Delta scares travelers

[...] the incident began about a half-hour from Philadelphia International Airport when [a] man made inappropriate comments to a female passenger a few rows behind him.

The woman became upset and soon two air marshals, who were dressed casually, were rushing toward the back of the plane, their badges flashing, [...]

The man was removed from his seat and walked up the aisle to first class, his arms behind his back, passengers said. There, some travelers were asked to move to other first-class seats to accommodate the marshals. The curtain was drawn.

Five minutes later, though, one of the marshals reappeared, standing at the front of coach class in a defensive posture, his gun out and pointed toward passengers at the back of the plane. He remained in that position for the rest of the flight.

It sure sounds like a few too-happy-to-finally-be-in-action newly trained Air Marshals were on that flight... Time to revise the training and the "Rules of Engagement"? USA TODAY noted a few months back that "Skill level of new air marshals in doubt"

The government has cut training for federal air marshal applicants and put new hires on flights without requiring the advanced marksmanship skills the program used to demand, USA TODAY has learned.

Sounds to me like it's more than markmanship skills that's missing...

More background:

• The Philadelphia story in The Guardian, Washington Post, The Globe and Mail (AP)
• Transportation Security Administration

• Trackback evolving - Jan 20, 2003
• Useful pre-flight information - Nov 18, 2002
• Hacking the Information Economy - Oct 29, 2002
• What is "cloaking"? - Oct 08, 2002
• Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery... - Sep 16, 2002
• See more related posts in: Old Blog