The Europeans negative response is understandable if you consider that it wasnt their pilots who were summarily ejected from the cockpit,had their hands tied and forced to watch the demise of their ship,crew and pax.If they had,perhaps their response would be somewhat different.
Caulfield your above reply is at best unhelpful. You refer to 911 as a national (not international ) problem. The U.S. is the most inter-national ( and international ) country in the world and as such the effects were felt everywhere even over here in Europe.
As to our negative response to the arming issue I see two reasons for our different points of view:
1 Gun in particular are an emotive issue over there and not really on this side of the Atlantic. That does not concern us.
2 I think the basic operating ethos of crews is slightly different. In dealing with responsibility we have moved away from the solo DIY approach to a delegate 'let him/her do it' style.( This may be down to your more military schoolled crews ).
In essence we would rather everyone pulled their weight from check-in to boarding. We wear enough hats as it is in this job without adding Policeman and Executioner to them!
[ 22 November 2001: Message edited by: westman ]