U.S. pilots will not be armed... (merged)

[mriya225]

And the debate rages on...

Ideas like arming pilots are there to remind us of how much we still need our sense of smell and test our professed dedication to honesty...

Permission to speak with 100% candor, please.

In the consideration of suicidal terrorism onboard:
Without respect to your toughness, bravery, or commitment to maintaing command of your aircraft, the moment that an aggressive intruder breaches that cockpit, flightcrew life expectancy careens to infinitesimal.

I estimate the space between pilot seating and the cockpit door, runs @ three feet deep, generally speaking. The time it takes somebody to cross that span is exactly how long you have to:

1) Notice the entry
2) Determine the threat
3) Get a hand on that weapon
4) Aim
5) Make your shot without doing catastrophic damage to your aircraft or passengers who mean you no harm.

Assuming that you can manage to overcome astronomical odds here and survive... The argument could easily be made that if you had time to make that shot, you were not warranted in the use of deadly force because the threat to your command of that aircraft was not as great as you perceived it to be. Here's the bitch of the thing; even if you are justified--you're still going to get stuck with the liability and pay through the nose for it.

You may have been right, and I may believe you--but it will not matter.

Now, considering that fact that the potential for civil liabilities, aircraft damage, and bad public relations are enormous... And considering that no insurer, anywhere, is going to touch this--period... This is a formula for the demise of your carrier (that's already struggling in a brutal economic environment) your career, and the livelihood of tens of thousands of people. So, who's going to pay for these liabilities when this bright idea goes south--and it will--ALPA? Carrier? Passengers? Tax Payers? Who gets to have the dubious distinction of bending over and taking it in the rear for this utterly volitile but completely illusory sense of security?

This is nothing more that a dangerous security blanket. You will not have the time to use it properly--and if you do, then we'll be made to pay for it as though you shouldn't have.

We need to stop clapping each other on the back with these feel good "We'll give you a fighting chance" lies. This measure will not push the odds in your favor one iota---nada.

We need to be about the business of making sure that you have the capabilty of throwing over command of your aircraft to a ground unit that will guide you onto a militarized airfield, where you'll be met by a well equipped and highly trained anti-terrorist team, and providing you with security onboard.

What we're trying to do here is reduce the incentive to dispose of the flightcrew and provide you with an unmistakable 'heads up' that you've got trouble just outside that door. Now, you've got the time you need to prepare for your own defense and the defense of your aircraft. You can switch over command, pull that axe off the wall and steady your nerve for whatever may come through that cockpit door. Now, you've got a fighting chance--we really have pushed the odds in your favor.