Sir, As a pilot with a UK airline I agree that the chances of holding up an aircraft with a violin are as small as my damaging it with a tube of toothpaste, which the Department of Transport bans me from carrying.
Security is as effective as its weakest link; until someone realises this these measures will only cover the backs of those in positions of responsibility and do little to protect our freedom or our economic success.
JAMES BASNETT
Reigate, Surrey
Sir, In an intelligently run society, distinguished musicians would have no problem taking their instruments as cabin baggage. Their itineraries are planned months or years in advance and their faces are in many cases well known.
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If less famous performers buy a seat each for a violoncello and themselves at short notice, they should before boarding have their cello X-rayed, and be able, on demand by airport security, to play any Bach suite to diploma standard from memory.
MICHAEL BIRD
London SW13
Sir, It doesn’t seem unreasonable that men in possession of such priceless instruments might lease a private plane; the poorer end of the orchestral scale could borrow the instruments of their admirers abroad, of whom apparently there are vast numbers.
This way any aircraft under threat will only be carrying non-priceless cargo, such as their audiences.
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MARY HODGSON
Coventry
Sir, I recently attended Dartington International Summer School, where musicians from abroad were suffering stress and anxiety caused by the prospect of having to return home without their instruments.
This draconian treatment contrasts with the arrangements made to accommodate musicians’ needs in the US after 9/11: airlines were instructed by the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to allow musical instruments as carry-on luggage. Why can’t the UK follow this example?
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BRIGITTE LINDNER
Oxford
Sir, Now that the issue of instruments on planes has been aired very publicly at the Last Night of the Proms, I’m hopeful that the Government and British Airways will be forced into making reasonable arrangements.
AMBROSE MILLER
Director-General, European Union Chamber Orchestra
Yarnscombe, Devon