Airline pilots now DEPRIVED OF GUNS by Obama

[2571]

As I remember, a lot of pilots did not want to be armed.

How many hijackers have they disabled?

Whole gun/cockpit program is nonesense anyway. I want a pilot who can drive an airplane when I fly, not a cowboy.

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[John Sukey (Deceased)]

As I remember, a lot of pilots did not want to be armed.

How many hijackers have they disabled?

Whole gun/cockpit program is nonesense anyway. I want a pilot who can drive an airplane when I fly, not a cowboy.

And if the pilot is DEAD? Keep in mind that the terrorists believe they are going to paradise even if they only take the "infidels" on the plane with them.

You trust the pilots to not dive the aircraft into the ground but you don't trust them to defend themselves from some nut case muslim?

And I don't understand your reference to "cowboys" as most of them at the time couldn't hit the side of a barn if they were locked inside.
The "Wild West" was the product of dime novels written by people who never were there.

[JGaynor]

As I remember, a lot of pilots did not want to be armed.

How many hijackers have they disabled?

Whole gun/cockpit program is nonesense anyway. I want a pilot who can drive an airplane when I fly, not a cowboy.

Have to disagree on that point. I distinctly remember the head of the pilots union begging for authority to carry firearms in a televised congressional hearing.

The sad thing is it would have been an effective countermeasure that could have been implimented very cheaply in almost no time while other progrmas such as hardening the cockpit doors were under way.

While I have no illusions about Obama and his minions the Bush Administration deserves no credit here. They larded so much bureaucratic BS on this program so as to make it all but unworkable.

The question of how many terrorists have the pilots killed is pure sophistry. The point is that if a cockpit is breached there is a 100% certainty that the plane will be lost, all of the passengers and crew will be killed and even more deaths may result on the ground.

I would not give piots the option of being armed. On the theory that there are no atheists in foxholes I think every commercial aircraft sohould have at least one gun in the cockpit - right along with the fireextinuisher oxygen bottle and other seldom used but vital emerency gear.

[Clark Howard]

As I remember, a lot of pilots did not want to be armed.

How many hijackers have they disabled?

Whole gun/cockpit program is nonesense anyway. I want a pilot who can drive an airplane when I fly, not a cowboy.

Hello 2571 - Your reservations concerning the Federal Flight Deck Officer are duly noted. Your "cowboy" characterization is wayyy off the mark, however. Every one of the sworn pilots in the program are accomplished pilots. The program is completely voluntary. Most of the armed pilots are former officers in the U.S. military. All of the pilots in the program have completed the extensive qualification and training required by the Feds. The only foolish part of the program is the weapon storage requirements dictated by an administration that wanted to discourage participation. Any other law enforcement officer would turn in his badge in disgust if he or she were required to jump through this hoop. The pilots who have made the FFDO concept a success have done so out of a sincere desire to protect their own lives and the lives of their passengers. Since you own a computer, I would recommend that you do a little research into "the cowboy way", before you so easily disparage both professional pilots and cowboys. Regards, Clark