The International Federation of Airline Pilots Associations (IFALPA) is polling its membership in 65 countries on direct action against aerial hijacking and other forms of terrorism directed against civil aviation it was learned here.
Capt. James O’Grady, president of the 50,000-member group charged today at a press conference in Rome that the General Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which winds up a month-long meeting in Rome on Friday, has “almost certainly been a failure” as far as coming up with effective measures against air piracy is concerned.
O’Grady disclosed that the IFALPA membership is being asked for its views on imposing an automatic 48-hour ban on air traffic in and out of any country which diverts a civil airliner from its scheduled course. The proposal was first suggested following Israel’s diversion of a Lebanese airliner last Aug. 10.
The IFALPA official said that if ICAO, individual states and international airlines evaded their responsibilities “the time will come for drastic action on the part of our membership to halt the senseless terror that has infected the world.”
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