Air Security: Armed Pilots or Sky Marshals?

As a moderately frequent business traveler, I put my life in the hands of the flight crew every time I board the plane. If the Air Line Pilots Assn. believes the best security model is to arm the flight crews, I’m all for it (Sept. 26). This is going to be going on for years, not months, and I question whether we have the means and determination to add special law enforcement officers to fly on all of the 30,000 or 40,000 daily flights for the next five or 10 years.

Marc Danziger

Torrance

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The idea of arming pilots is nuts. As a passenger, the last thing I want is to have my pilot flying the plane with one hand and shooting over his shoulder with the other.

The pilot should be locked safely in the cockpit behind a bulletproof door, and any shooting should be the responsibility of armed, professional air marshals.

Richard Raffalow

Valley Glen

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In retaliation for the Sept. 11 attack, U.S. citizens should buy airline tickets and travel at normal or above-normal levels. The possibility of another attack in the same manner is nil. By not flying, U.S. citizens are accomplishing in a major way the ends of terrorists by helping them wreak havoc on the U.S. economy. It should be considered patriotic to travel by air.

Dale Hansen

Pomona