Recently, I've bee re-examining my assumptions about starport facilities.
I had the "opportunity" to spend several hours in airports recently, and got
to thinking about what starports are likely to look like.
1. We know that weapons are not prohibited in the starport. We also know
that it is standard procedure for ship's crews to take possesion of all
weapons for the duration of the flight.
2. I think its probably safe to assume that a starship passenger will check
most of his baggage through to his cabin. Most starships are not
designed for the passengers to easily carry all his luggage for a week's
stay to his cabin.
3. Most starship crews want this luggage checked for weapons.
If we assume (I seem to be using that word a lot) that there is some
organization providing ticketing and baggage handling for single ships and
small lines (Tukera et.al. will probably provide their own.), they will
probably also provide security scans of baggage and passengers. These
organizations are the subject of another message, but for this discussion
details are not important. I see this leading to a situation not unlike
modern airports -- passengers pass through detectors before being allowed
onto the ships, and their bags are checked for explosives and weapons before
being delivered to the ship.
Starship crews and starport personell are issued ID cards of some form, and
must display these to enter the flight line and maintenance areas. Weapons
possesion in areas outside the secured areas is not prohibited, but is
discouraged. Ship's crews are permitted to carry weapons in the secured
areas, but the starport security people won't tolerate disturbances.
Obviously, this changes the atmosphere that many of us create for our
starports. Has any out there never been in a major firefight in a starport
bar? It does, however, seem to make more sense to me.
I still have a few questions, though. While the preceding would apply to A
and B class ports, and would probably apply to most C class, would it apply
at all to D class ports? I noticed a while back that some security has been
instituted at the general aviation facility of our local airport (B/C
class), which was unheard of ten years ago. Anyone with more experience
(Richard?) care to comment?
Also, does this ruin too many scenarios? I think it can be worked around,
and in fact can imagine the effort to smuggle guns onto a ship being a
nights adventure in itself. Does anyone disagree?
Mark
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Mark Power [email removed]
University of Alabama Hospital
GSB 240
[address removed]