But BA has ruled out arming its flight crew with guns or knives as they "may serve only to arm an unarmed intruder".
Hmmm, seems logical. I am sure glad that BA has not taken a "knee jerk" approach to the safety of its aircraft!
The pilot that is not intelligent enough or too busy to be trained to use a firearm, will now be competent enough and have the time for hand to hand combat in the cockpit.
My money is on the terrorist!
A stun gun is a device that looks much like an electric razor. It has a battery and a capacitor, and works just like an ignition coil. There are 2 electrodes attached to the top of the thing that MUST touch the assailant in order to POSSIBLY incapacitate him (please Mr. Atta, STAND STILL so I can shock you!). Once he is incapacitated, there is no telling how long he will be out (Gee! I'm sure glad I didn't have a GUN! Instead of flying the aircraft after grappling with Mr. Terrorist, I have to stand watch over this guy and keep administering the shock treatment every time he wakes up!) There is also the problem of multiple intruders (I realize that it is far fetched to think that more than ONE guy would be willing to martyr himself for allah)
For a stun gun to be effective, you need to be standing up and facing the guy. If this guy is determined and just as importantly, TRAINED in unarmed combat, and you aren't, you lost before it started!
If you are sitting in a pilot seat, a stun gun is worse than useless. The hijacker has ALL of the advantage. He is behind you, standing up. As you reach around to TRY to touch him, he will merely keep backing out of reach until he can grab your wrist. At this point he will hyperextend your arm around the seat, breaking it, and take the stun gun from you. You, and your FO will now experience the joys of electric shock!
This makes much more sense than keeping the intruder(s) at arms length with a pistol!
The other device that is incorrectly called a stun gun is a Taser. It is a gun like device that fires 2 micro thin wires into the bad guy, and nails him with a bunch of amps. The only up side is that you don't have to physically touch the guy. The downsides to this are even more than a stun gun however. First, you have to hit him with BOTH electrodes, Then they have to stay in him until he is rendered unconcious, and most importantly, there is NO SECOND CHANCE! When he wakes up and pulls the electrodes out, you are once again unarmed!
A repeating firearm with an integral laser sight is the ONLY answer to arming piolts. Anything less is worse than nothing.