Armed pilots

I think its a bad move to have any guns on commercial flights, no matter how much training the pilots have.
Why not have cattle prods, cudgels, mace or some other type of incapacitating weapon that won't endanger the passengers or the aircraft.


story.news.yahoo.com.../ap/20030420/ap_on_re_us/arming_pilots_7

pilots are responsible of the live poeple they carry and I dont think that they will abuse of this. But if there are hijackers who can put in danger the life of passagers...

but if they start firing off rounds in a pressurised aircraft 30,000 ft in the air there's a good chance the whole plane might go down.
Defeats the purpose of the pilot protecting the passengers in the first place.
However if you mace them, couple of smacks around the head and then tie them up. Much safer.

The thing about arming pilots is that I can still see many ways terrorists could get their hands on the guns. For one, they could simply become a pilot. The time that would take is not of concern to the larger organisations.
They could also kidnap a pilot’s family and blackmail him into just handing over the gun when their man enters the cockpit or his family will be killed, or something similar. I know the schedule for the pilots having the guns would rotate, but I can't see the relevant information being too hard to find for anyone determined enough.

The fact that they are going to have the guns seems to be more of a deterrent, rather than a preventative measure because if they where actually fired in an aircraft, as was said, the chances are that a bullet would pierce the hull causing depressurisation if not sucking everyone out the plane, killing them anyway...

Most pilots have military experience as it is...and it's a great deterrence...

I'd still prefer that they have a less damaging option available to them as well, like a tazer, etc. due to the aforementioned issue with firearms in a pressurized cabin...

asian pilots who know kung fu. that'd stop anyone. period. jet li trained dudes flyin planes? what better airline safety mechanism than martial arts people who cannot be defeated!

Has anyone heard the Robin Williams Live 2002 cd?

"In case of an emergency, a small Louisville Slugger will drop from the ceiling. Aim your hits at the head, groin and knees. Keep hitting until the f---er is unconscious"

There is some funny stuff on that cd.

XAOS

I am sure I read somewhere that an australian company came up with a weapon that will go through the flesh and bone of a human but never peirce the pressurised cabin of an aircraft.

Anyone else heard of this hand gun..I will try and dig up some more information for you guys regarding this.

I have it on DVD. Its hilarious. I suggest everyone listen to it or watch it.

I love the Robbin Williams Comedy act!, very funny.

But back on topic, I have heard of the bullets that will pass through flesh but not the fuselage too. I don't remember from where though.

First of all, the tazers DO NOT work [well]. You have to aim for any exposed skin (if you use the type with the projectile leads), and then you have to be uncomfortably close to them to hit them with it.
Also, tazers will not incapacitate someone permanently. They can get up, and if they are determined enough (as most fanatical highjackers can be) they will just keep going.

Also, Lexus Panther, mace? In a pressurized cabin? When someone farts in first class, I can smell it in economy , think about it.

For the most part, I trust the pilots, I mean they're already FLYING YOUR PLANE. Commercial pilots have one the most regulated jobs in the U.S. They already get rigorous pshycological screenings.

I saw on the news, some anti-gun type saying that they can just throw the plane around to stop any miscreants, instead of using guns. Uh huh, you'd be throwing around any one trying to subdue them, AND it's hard on the plane.

I'd rather have them be able to use guns, personally.
I do understand where most people are coming from.

[Edited on 5-2-2003 by Ripley]

As far as guns in the cockpit, all I can say is that a small Chiefs Special .38 snubnose in each of those cockpits on 9/11, and it would have been a nonevent... It is hard to press an attack with a box cutter if someone is pumping bullets into you from a distance.

As far as ammunition safety in aircraft, there is a number of ammo manufacturers that make frangible or prefragmented ammo: Glaser Safety Slugs, MagSafe, BeeSafe, ect. The ammo used by the AirMarshalls are made in San Antonio Texas by RBCD Ammo, and uses compressed metal powders: it stays together in soft targets at high velocity, but when it decelerates, it expands and explodes inside the target. When it hits hard targets, like a cabin wall, it disintegrates into powder.

A hell of a lot of stopping power, and at about $3 a round, not cheap.

Sounds like just the ticket to keep both camps happy....

As for my earlier taser like comment, I meant just that, like a taser, not specifically a taser, but I've seen something similar but more effective (actually knocked out the victims), can't remember the exact name of it though....

I don't think I'd be using electricall pulses around all my nav equipment. Not sure I approve of guns in the cockpit either. Maybe if the cockpit doors could seal in the event of emergency and somekind of gas was used to knock everybody else out. But then again, I'm partial to the Louisville Slugger method too. I don't see hijackings being a problem as they once were. I doubt you could hijack a plane load of grandmas without getting your butt kicked these days. Just ask Richard Reid.

True...

Somebody trying a hijacking nowadays, is going to get rocked....guns or no guns... It's far easier to survive a gunshot wound, than running into the side of a skyscraper...

True Gazrok - didn't a female flight attendant take down the shoe bomber? She was probably a 'soccer mom' - don't mess with soccer moms!

None the less, I'd feel safer if the pilots were armed. And, I think the guns the air marshalls already carry don't damage the plane.

I say they get the 'metal storm' weapon system and put it in the cockpit, aim it towards the door. Problem solved.