The problem is is that the government are 'spinning' a line. It is fairly obvious that there will only be a limited number of armed sky marshalls available (if any?) and the hope is that, as a number of you have already stated, you wouldn't want to board an aircraft with a loaded gun on board (albeit for slightly different reasons) which is what they hope any potential hijacker will think. It's a very limited deterrent.
It is obvious that they are not going to announce any numbers, routes or airlines that are going to have armed sky marshalls. Speculation is difficult but the thinking behind the decision to even announce the program seems to be that they (he?) will be deployed on 'high risk' routes. All that does is make the potential hijackers direct their efforts at the 'lower risk' routes and defeats the purpose.
At least on El Al you know that there are armed, and highly trained sky marshalls on EVERY flight and that's after being profiled before checking in. Unless the government are prepared to do more than pay lip service for the sake of a quick soundbite then most of us in the industry will remain sceptical and continue to point out the flaws in their decision making.
As with other 'cosmetic' approaches to security, we are fed silly 'packages' by the media that this new announcement of a limited number of armed sky marshalls being available is going to somehow cause a surge in trans-Atlantic traffic because passengers will somehow feel safer and more prepared to fly than before?!
As far as I am concerned, they either do the job properly or else stop interfering for the sake of a few votes. Unless the government are prepared to implement a much stricter regime of security, even before check-in then everything else is like trying to repair a heart attack with a plaster. We need serious profiling of passengers before check-in by governemnt employees who have access to sensitive intelligence information. The rest of the normal security we have will then act as a second line of defence. In my opinion far too much effort is being spent on 'appearing' to be doing something and does little to prevent a hijacker from getting on board. In this instance, an armed sky marshall would be a last line of defence.
Can you imagine how embarrasing it would be if there was another attempted hijack now but no sky marshall on board? Consider the odds of being on a flight that is hijacked, what are the odds of that flight will have a sky marshall on board even if there are 100 of them? I still think I've got a beter chance of winning the lottery.
