Penko, I still disagree with you about the flight attendants- they spend their time surrounded by passengers (all of whom must, sadly, be regarded as potential threats), and usually have their hands full. I suggest that you watch the cabin crew the next time you fly as a pax- sure, they will notice a passenger who acts abusively, especially as this behaviour tends to escalate with time. The passenger who sits quietly, watches the safety brief, then (after the seat belt sign is turned off) goes to the toilet- are you suggesting that the FA draws her weapon and covers him while he passes her in the aisle? And btw, sometimes we operate with only one flight attendant, and rarely more than two: I doubt any of our FAs would stay with the company another day if they were told they would be issued with firearms...
Flap 5 , you still haven't answered my question: how many of the pilots of the aircraft hijacked on 11/9/2001 survived? I queried your mis-spelling of my name because it implied that you hadn't read my posts properly...
S76 Heavy: you're assuming that anyone who advocates armed flight deck crew does so as an alternative to proper airport security. As several of us have said, armed crew are an additional precaution- indeed, without an adequately armoured flightdeck door and surrounding bulkhead, totally useless.
Pilgrim: I have no ambition to be a hero: heroics imply the lack of proper planning.
The carriage of a firearm in the aircraft is another ramping up of the onboard security level which have, necessarily, made this proffession a lot less fun. If anyone imagines I actually want to carry a firearm at work (or elsewhere) they are very much mistaken- as I have said previously, even when handgun ownership was legal in the UK I never felt the desire for one.
If I had known, before my first airline job, how rapidly the security environment would change, I think I would have stayed a flying instructor.