Dragonair Danger

Dragonair allows weapons on board flights to mainland China.

But you must be a security specialist to get away with it. Regardless, the pilots don't like it.

Politicians' bodyguards carrying military-issue QSZ-92 guns and security guards armed with 7cm-8cm knives and handcuffs are being allowed on six Dragonair planes leased with their cockpit crew to Air China to operate on its mainland domestic routes.

The bodyguards' semi-automatic pistols are supposed to be unloaded when they are taken on board but on the only known occasion when a Dragonair captain checked a gun brought into the cabin, he found it fully loaded.

[ ... ]

Dragonair sought and obtained dispensation from the Civil Aviation Department (CAD) allowing armed guards on board after it secured a wet-lease deal to provide Air China six Airbus A330 and A320 jets to fly between Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

A wet lease is a deal under which a plane is leased to another operator with at least one crew member.

A wet lease allows for a little wet work, is that it?

Pilots say they were not consulted about the dispensation and are concerned that the bodyguards are not answerable to the captain and carry unmodified pistols that could blow a hole in the side of a plane.

Air marshals in the US, by contrast, are placed on planes to protect passengers as a whole rather than individuals and carry guns that have been modified so as not to put the aircraft's structure at risk.

The guns haven't been modified, the ammunition has. US Air marshals use frangibles, pre-fragmented rounds designed to penetrate a soft target but neither exit nor penetrate hard surfaces, which is a Very Good Thing; nobody wants to be splattered with exit gore while enjoying the in-flight entertainment, or go through the Hell and Terror of explosive decompression when the round takes out a chunk of the plane.

The problem with the QSZ-92 is it fires a proprietary 5.8x21mm armor-piercing round.

Oops.

Let's hope the bodyguards have infallible aim.

In the wake of the September 11 attacks, most countries decided the risk of having firearms on board a plane outweighed their usefulness in a terrorist attack and decided not to allow them.

Air marshals carry firearms on US domestic flights and El Al uses armed guards. El Al's armed personnel are also there to protect all passengers, not one individual.

Precisely.

And though everyone is supposed to have a price, air marshals aren't as likely to be bought by terrorists.

Let's hope the bodyguards are also well-paid.

← Older Posts · 早前 | →