US bid to enable arming of US pilots on all flights
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Thread Starter
US bid to enable arming of US pilots on all flights
The Grauniad: US bids to give guns to pilots on all flights
The federal body charged with protecting air passengers from terrorist attacks is asking governments around the world for permission to place armed pilots on international flights.
The transport section of the Department of Homeland Security wants to extend the system whereby pilots are currently armed on a small number of domestic flights within the US. Pilots are unarmed on international flights originating from America even though they are considered higher risk.
There are about 2,000 armed air marshals who fly on domestic and international US flights as passengers. The US administration wants agreements with the UK and other countries that cover the use of air marshals to apply to armed pilots. Officials say this would allow a much greater reach as pilots are present on all flights.
The request, which has been expected in London and other capitals for several months, is likely to be greeted cautiously by countries that insist US air marshals hand over their guns before entry into foreign territory. The Swedish embassy in Washington told USA Today that it did not want to see more arms on planes.
The British embassy in Washington said it did not comment on security matters.
The federal body charged with protecting air passengers from terrorist attacks is asking governments around the world for permission to place armed pilots on international flights.
The transport section of the Department of Homeland Security wants to extend the system whereby pilots are currently armed on a small number of domestic flights within the US. Pilots are unarmed on international flights originating from America even though they are considered higher risk.
There are about 2,000 armed air marshals who fly on domestic and international US flights as passengers. The US administration wants agreements with the UK and other countries that cover the use of air marshals to apply to armed pilots. Officials say this would allow a much greater reach as pilots are present on all flights.
The request, which has been expected in London and other capitals for several months, is likely to be greeted cautiously by countries that insist US air marshals hand over their guns before entry into foreign territory. The Swedish embassy in Washington told USA Today that it did not want to see more arms on planes.
The British embassy in Washington said it did not comment on security matters.
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: San Jose
Posts: 727
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
If the cockpit door is secured, how is an attacker supposed to get in, and if he did rush the door if it was opened for other reasons, how would the pilot manage to get a gun out of his clothing/holster fast enough to do something useful with it? It also lets the hijacker know where the weapons are on the aircraft - if the captain comes out into the main cabin to visit the toilet, does he keep his gun with him or leave it with the copilot?
I don't expect full details of security measures to be given in a public forum, but there seems to be a lot of holes to address before it's even a vaguely sensible idea. I guess it comes down to the concept of whether the pilot's job is to fly the plane or be its security guard.
I don't expect full details of security measures to be given in a public forum, but there seems to be a lot of holes to address before it's even a vaguely sensible idea. I guess it comes down to the concept of whether the pilot's job is to fly the plane or be its security guard.
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: UK
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Considering the traditional hijack ("take me to cuba!") as it's not all dark beardy types with box cutters,the suspects usually have zero flying hours, and will keep the two up front alive as they simply want asylum. The pilots will now be able to double tap Mr A. Sylumseeker and land at the destination with minimum delay. 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Lost
Posts: 300
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I take it that we will be allowed our nail clippers, Swiss army knives etc back, and all the other toiletries that we are currently not allowed to take on board if over a specific size/weight/dimension?
Depending on which particular airport you are currently/operating /transiting/positioning through of course.
BR.
Depending on which particular airport you are currently/operating /transiting/positioning through of course.
BR.
Trash du Blanc
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: KBHM
Posts: 1,185
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Simply a lower-cost (read "free") alternative to hiring more air marshals.
Armed pilots outnumber air marshals now in the states. Costs the government next to nothing. Provides somewhat of a deterrent. No problems so far.
Yes, it would be tricky to defend against determined hijackers. Only thing worse would be doing it without a weapon....
Armed pilots outnumber air marshals now in the states. Costs the government next to nothing. Provides somewhat of a deterrent. No problems so far.
Yes, it would be tricky to defend against determined hijackers. Only thing worse would be doing it without a weapon....
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Eagan, MN
Posts: 339
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
There was an incident, out of Boston around '70, where an armed crew resisted an armed nut with their own weapon...he wanted to press into the Atlantic until fuel ran out. The F/O bled to death, but the crew was able to resist, and return the tube, pax, and surviving crew successfully. Has their ever been another case of an armed crew successfully resisting such an assault?
Trash du Blanc
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: KBHM
Posts: 1,185
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hero in the cockpit
Pistol served pilot well in '54
By EVAN MOORE
Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle
FORT WORTH -- Until now it was largely forgotten, a brief, tragic incident
that lay buried in fading newspaper accounts and the memories of only a few,
but the shooting of a hijacker by an airline pilot almost 50 years ago has
taken on a new significance today.
It occurred shortly before noon on July 6, 1954, when a strapping teen-ager
armed with a pistol commandeered an American Airlines DC-6 at the Cleveland
Airport, only to be shot and fatally wounded by the captain.
The shooting ended the life of Raymond Kuchenmeister, 15. It made a
reluctant hero of the late Capt. William "Bill" Bonnell of Fort Worth and
left an indelible mark on Bonnell's psyche that he could never successfully
erase.
Moreover, in light of the recent terrorist attacks and the ensuing debates
over whether pilots should be armed, the 1954 incident illustrates a
forgotten time when pilots not only routinely carried pistols, but were
required to carry them.
On that Tuesday, 47 years ago, Bonnell was carrying his, a small,
.380-caliber Colt semiautomatic, holstered in his flight bag.
Bonnell, a tall, quiet man, was a former Army Air Corps pilot who had served
three stints in the service, two of those flying transport planes over China
and Burma during World War II.
He also was ambidextrous.
"Bill could use either hand equally well," Jean Bonnell, his widow,
recalled. "He used to play jokes on the shooting instructors in the
military. There'd be a line of officers, all in the same stance, shooting at
targets. One time, the instructor would walk down the line and Bill would be
shooting right-handed. The next time, he'd be shooting with his left. He
shot the same score with both hands."
Bill Bonnell joined American Airlines in 1936, and that airline, like
others, transported U.S. mail.
"Back in those days, the pilot or co-pilot had to hand-carry the mail from
the plane to the terminal," recalled George Patten, 85, a retired American
pilot and a friend of Bonnell's. "Postal regulations required that you be
armed. We all had to have guns, and American had us buy little .380s."
Bonnell's pistol remained in his flight bag. His widow recalled that he had
not removed the weapon in years before the day of the hijacking.
On that day, Bonnell had flown from Fort Worth to Cleveland in the morning
and was preparing for the return flight. The plane was carrying almost a
full load, 58 passengers, and all had been seated.
Bonnell stopped and spoke to a young mother with two small children seated
at the front. He then entered the cockpit and had already locked himself,
his co-pilot and the engineer inside when Kuchenmeister approached the
airplane ramp.
Police said Kuchenmeister, the oldest of seven children, was a troubled
youth who had stolen a pistol and persuaded his 12-year-old brother to run
away from home with him. He hatched his plan to hijack a plane earlier in
the day, but once at the airport, the 12-year-old declined to accompany him.
So, alone, clad in dirty denim pants and a leather jacket, Kuchenmeister
left his little brother in the terminal and walked out on the tarmac. There
he pushed past an airline agent and was headed up the stairs to the plane
when the agent demanded his ticket.
"This is my ticket," the burly youth reportedly said, and pointed the pistol
at the agent.
The agent retreated, and at the entrance to the plane, Kuchenmeister told a
stewardess he needed to see the pilot. Thinking he was part of the ground
crew, she opened the cockpit, where Kuchenmeister, unnoticed by the
passengers, stepped into the cramped quarters, closed the door and turned
the gun on Bonnell.
"I want to go to Mexico," Kuchenmeister told Bonnell and his crew. "No
stops."
Bonnell and the co-pilot attempted to explain to Kuchenmeister that the
plane did not have enough fuel to reach Mexico, but the youth would not be
deterred.
Finally, flight engineer Bob Young told Kuchenmeister they would take off
but that it was necessary to throw a switch behind Kuchenmeister before the
plane could taxi.
As the hijacker turned to look for the switch, Bonnell reached into his
flight bag with his left hand, removed the pistol, swung around to his right
and shot Kuchenmeister. The wounded hijacker then attempted to shoot
Bonnell, but his pistol misfired and Bonnell shot him again.
"I shot him in the hip," Bonnell later recalled. "He sagged a bit. I let him
have it again, a little higher.
"I had a maniac on my plane. We had women and children. What the hell could
a guy do?"
Kuchenmeister was taken to a hospital, and Bonnell, the only qualified
American pilot in Cleveland at the time, flew the plane back to Fort Worth.
In midflight, he received word from Cleveland that the hijacker was only 15
and that he had died.
When Bonnell stepped from the plane, reporters described him as ashen and
shaking.
"Bill told me later that the first thing he thought about when he was
reaching for the gun was that woman and her two children at the front of the
plane," Jean Bonnell said. "I said, `Why didn't you shoot him in the head
with the second shot?'
"Bill said, `Because I didn't want to kill him.' "
Bill Bonnell returned to Cleveland the following day. "He wanted to go out
and talk to the boy's family, to pay for the funeral," Jean Bonnell said,
"but the police talked him out of it."
Bonnell received hundreds of letters from the passengers on that flight and
their relatives, commending him for his actions.
"But Bill was never proud of what he'd done," Jean Bonnell said. "He'd been
in the service, and he'd had to fight, but this was different. He told me it
took him a day to convince himself that hijacker was really 15. He told me,
`My God, Jean, we have a 13-year-old son.'
"After the first few weeks, he stopped talking about it and would never talk
about it again. I don't think he ever completely got over it.
"But what if he hadn't had that gun? What if he hadn't shot? What would have
happened to all those passengers?"
The event was front-page news for two days, then faded away, and for 47
years the Bonnell family refused to discuss it publicly. Jean Bonnell said
she agreed to speak about her husband now only because of the recent
terrorist attacks and requests by pilots associations to be armed.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, the Airline Pilots Association and the Allied
Pilots Association proposed allowing pilots to carry handguns loaded with
lightweight projectiles. The first group modified its proposal to include
only stun guns, but the Allied association has not altered its stance.
President Bush has opposed the idea, as have the Airports Council
International and the Association of Flight Attendants, though a number of
legislators from both parties have supported the pilots' groups. The Senate
passed an aviation security bill Thursday that would allow pilots to carry
handguns. A similar bill is pending in the House.
In the meantime, congressional action on the proposal could be unnecessary,
according to the Code of Federal Regulations governing aviation. That
document, Chapter 11, Part 108, provides that no person can carry a weapon
onto a plane unless that person is "authorized to have the weapon by the
certificate holder (airline) and has completed a course of training in the
use of firearms acceptable to the Administrator (FAA)."
That regulation was adopted in 1981 and has not been changed. Federal
Aviation Administration officials acknowledged that the regulation is "on
the books" and that it provides for armed pilots, but refused to answer more
questions about it.
Bill Bonnell quit carrying his weapon July 7, 1954.
"He never carried it again," Jean Bonnell said. "Bill retired (in 1970). We
moved, and we burned all the letters he'd received and any news clippings.
We didn't want to remember it, but he could never really put it behind him.
"He died in 1991, and I'm afraid his later years were not very happy ones.
"A lot of people thought he was a hero, but Bill never considered himself
one."
Pistol served pilot well in '54
By EVAN MOORE
Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle
FORT WORTH -- Until now it was largely forgotten, a brief, tragic incident
that lay buried in fading newspaper accounts and the memories of only a few,
but the shooting of a hijacker by an airline pilot almost 50 years ago has
taken on a new significance today.
It occurred shortly before noon on July 6, 1954, when a strapping teen-ager
armed with a pistol commandeered an American Airlines DC-6 at the Cleveland
Airport, only to be shot and fatally wounded by the captain.
The shooting ended the life of Raymond Kuchenmeister, 15. It made a
reluctant hero of the late Capt. William "Bill" Bonnell of Fort Worth and
left an indelible mark on Bonnell's psyche that he could never successfully
erase.
Moreover, in light of the recent terrorist attacks and the ensuing debates
over whether pilots should be armed, the 1954 incident illustrates a
forgotten time when pilots not only routinely carried pistols, but were
required to carry them.
On that Tuesday, 47 years ago, Bonnell was carrying his, a small,
.380-caliber Colt semiautomatic, holstered in his flight bag.
Bonnell, a tall, quiet man, was a former Army Air Corps pilot who had served
three stints in the service, two of those flying transport planes over China
and Burma during World War II.
He also was ambidextrous.
"Bill could use either hand equally well," Jean Bonnell, his widow,
recalled. "He used to play jokes on the shooting instructors in the
military. There'd be a line of officers, all in the same stance, shooting at
targets. One time, the instructor would walk down the line and Bill would be
shooting right-handed. The next time, he'd be shooting with his left. He
shot the same score with both hands."
Bill Bonnell joined American Airlines in 1936, and that airline, like
others, transported U.S. mail.
"Back in those days, the pilot or co-pilot had to hand-carry the mail from
the plane to the terminal," recalled George Patten, 85, a retired American
pilot and a friend of Bonnell's. "Postal regulations required that you be
armed. We all had to have guns, and American had us buy little .380s."
Bonnell's pistol remained in his flight bag. His widow recalled that he had
not removed the weapon in years before the day of the hijacking.
On that day, Bonnell had flown from Fort Worth to Cleveland in the morning
and was preparing for the return flight. The plane was carrying almost a
full load, 58 passengers, and all had been seated.
Bonnell stopped and spoke to a young mother with two small children seated
at the front. He then entered the cockpit and had already locked himself,
his co-pilot and the engineer inside when Kuchenmeister approached the
airplane ramp.
Police said Kuchenmeister, the oldest of seven children, was a troubled
youth who had stolen a pistol and persuaded his 12-year-old brother to run
away from home with him. He hatched his plan to hijack a plane earlier in
the day, but once at the airport, the 12-year-old declined to accompany him.
So, alone, clad in dirty denim pants and a leather jacket, Kuchenmeister
left his little brother in the terminal and walked out on the tarmac. There
he pushed past an airline agent and was headed up the stairs to the plane
when the agent demanded his ticket.
"This is my ticket," the burly youth reportedly said, and pointed the pistol
at the agent.
The agent retreated, and at the entrance to the plane, Kuchenmeister told a
stewardess he needed to see the pilot. Thinking he was part of the ground
crew, she opened the cockpit, where Kuchenmeister, unnoticed by the
passengers, stepped into the cramped quarters, closed the door and turned
the gun on Bonnell.
"I want to go to Mexico," Kuchenmeister told Bonnell and his crew. "No
stops."
Bonnell and the co-pilot attempted to explain to Kuchenmeister that the
plane did not have enough fuel to reach Mexico, but the youth would not be
deterred.
Finally, flight engineer Bob Young told Kuchenmeister they would take off
but that it was necessary to throw a switch behind Kuchenmeister before the
plane could taxi.
As the hijacker turned to look for the switch, Bonnell reached into his
flight bag with his left hand, removed the pistol, swung around to his right
and shot Kuchenmeister. The wounded hijacker then attempted to shoot
Bonnell, but his pistol misfired and Bonnell shot him again.
"I shot him in the hip," Bonnell later recalled. "He sagged a bit. I let him
have it again, a little higher.
"I had a maniac on my plane. We had women and children. What the hell could
a guy do?"
Kuchenmeister was taken to a hospital, and Bonnell, the only qualified
American pilot in Cleveland at the time, flew the plane back to Fort Worth.
In midflight, he received word from Cleveland that the hijacker was only 15
and that he had died.
When Bonnell stepped from the plane, reporters described him as ashen and
shaking.
"Bill told me later that the first thing he thought about when he was
reaching for the gun was that woman and her two children at the front of the
plane," Jean Bonnell said. "I said, `Why didn't you shoot him in the head
with the second shot?'
"Bill said, `Because I didn't want to kill him.' "
Bill Bonnell returned to Cleveland the following day. "He wanted to go out
and talk to the boy's family, to pay for the funeral," Jean Bonnell said,
"but the police talked him out of it."
Bonnell received hundreds of letters from the passengers on that flight and
their relatives, commending him for his actions.
"But Bill was never proud of what he'd done," Jean Bonnell said. "He'd been
in the service, and he'd had to fight, but this was different. He told me it
took him a day to convince himself that hijacker was really 15. He told me,
`My God, Jean, we have a 13-year-old son.'
"After the first few weeks, he stopped talking about it and would never talk
about it again. I don't think he ever completely got over it.
"But what if he hadn't had that gun? What if he hadn't shot? What would have
happened to all those passengers?"
The event was front-page news for two days, then faded away, and for 47
years the Bonnell family refused to discuss it publicly. Jean Bonnell said
she agreed to speak about her husband now only because of the recent
terrorist attacks and requests by pilots associations to be armed.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, the Airline Pilots Association and the Allied
Pilots Association proposed allowing pilots to carry handguns loaded with
lightweight projectiles. The first group modified its proposal to include
only stun guns, but the Allied association has not altered its stance.
President Bush has opposed the idea, as have the Airports Council
International and the Association of Flight Attendants, though a number of
legislators from both parties have supported the pilots' groups. The Senate
passed an aviation security bill Thursday that would allow pilots to carry
handguns. A similar bill is pending in the House.
In the meantime, congressional action on the proposal could be unnecessary,
according to the Code of Federal Regulations governing aviation. That
document, Chapter 11, Part 108, provides that no person can carry a weapon
onto a plane unless that person is "authorized to have the weapon by the
certificate holder (airline) and has completed a course of training in the
use of firearms acceptable to the Administrator (FAA)."
That regulation was adopted in 1981 and has not been changed. Federal
Aviation Administration officials acknowledged that the regulation is "on
the books" and that it provides for armed pilots, but refused to answer more
questions about it.
Bill Bonnell quit carrying his weapon July 7, 1954.
"He never carried it again," Jean Bonnell said. "Bill retired (in 1970). We
moved, and we burned all the letters he'd received and any news clippings.
We didn't want to remember it, but he could never really put it behind him.
"He died in 1991, and I'm afraid his later years were not very happy ones.
"A lot of people thought he was a hero, but Bill never considered himself
one."
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: between a rock and a hard place
Posts: 15
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
It seems that some pilots may argue for carrying a weapon... until they have to use it. I say leave flying to the pilots and the shooting to the rest.
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Eagan, MN
Posts: 339
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
CCLN: Reasonable response, assuredly...but, on speculation; had one pilot in each of the 4 9/11 cockpits had a weapon, might the odds have evened just a little? Possibly? With 4 unarmed cockpits, though, the outcomes were assured.
Might a spirited, armed resistance of just one cockpit have saved one of the Towers...and its occupants?
Might a spirited, armed resistance of just one cockpit have saved one of the Towers...and its occupants?
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Sydney NSW Australia
Posts: 3,051
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
just a little thing, if hijackers usually want to be taken somewhere other than the aircraft destination, then why would the hijackers just get onto a flight going to where they want?
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Manchester, England
Age: 58
Posts: 897
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I thought reinforced cockpit doors were supposed to do that? In an emergency situation wouldn't it be better for the pilots to concentrate on getting the aircraft on the ground for assistance, rather than leaving themselves vulnerable (armed or not) by opening the door?
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: right here
Posts: 342
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
to open a locked reinforced cockpit door you would need explosives. carefully dosed not to blow the whole flight deck away. so the best way to get in, is to way until the door is opened by the crew, then make a rush. in this case a gun would be a good choice to defend the deck. but operators would have to change their SOPs, so that everytime the door is opened a barrel is pointed at the one coming in. i don't like the whole idea.
BUT:
if we finally got guns it would put an end to useless, time-consuming and humiliating security checks in the airports.
yet i can't decide btw a glock and a mp5K.
BUT:
if we finally got guns it would put an end to useless, time-consuming and humiliating security checks in the airports.yet i can't decide btw a glock and a mp5K.
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: uk
Posts: 1,224
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
There are about 2,000 armed air marshals who fly on domestic and international US flights as passengers.
I suppose the sky marshall is there to prevent the HJ's getting near the cock-pit.
Still it could be a way for rookies to get at least a type rating out of it and subsequent currency training.
Too mean to buy a long personal title
IIRC, all of the aircraft concerned on that day were already operating under a locked door policy which was not then universal around the world. If all of the crew on that day had simply refused to unlock the doors, it is possible that the hijackers may not have been able to break in, or to do so in time - and one or more of the aircraft might have been saved. All this is, sadly, only hypothetical speculation, but it illustrates exactly why the hijackers that day found it so easy to take control and then do the unexpected.
bolting the door too late
9_11 worked because through either skill and good planning or totally dumb luck. The hijackers understood the systems in place and worked to exploit it. I've always thought the brains behind this never spent too much time in a cave in Afganistan.
The real problem is armed pilots is a response to the last attack. The fortified and locked door means rushing the cockpit is out. The passenger response will not be cooperative the next time. The hikackers know they need to neutralize/circumvent a sky marshal and or an armed pilot and control the pax.
So our attackers will be , probably are, looking at a plan B. Looking at the above it seems the obvious target is a freighter.
They may be evil
but they are not entirely stupid.
20driver
The real problem is armed pilots is a response to the last attack. The fortified and locked door means rushing the cockpit is out. The passenger response will not be cooperative the next time. The hikackers know they need to neutralize/circumvent a sky marshal and or an armed pilot and control the pax.
So our attackers will be , probably are, looking at a plan B. Looking at the above it seems the obvious target is a freighter.
They may be evil
but they are not entirely stupid.20driver
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: East Yorkshire
Posts: 453
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Can you imagine having a Glock strapped to your side and then told to take your shoes off for examination in case off bombs and also no liquids to be carried through either
The world is doomed I tell you, the beaurocrats have lost the plot
The world is doomed I tell you, the beaurocrats have lost the plot
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Great White North
Age: 51
Posts: 131
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Why not arm them with Tasers? Is that a stupid suggestion with the electronics on the flight deck?
In technical terms, are pilots not considered Peace Officers? And do we not arm Peace officers in some of our countries?
And if we really want those up front armed in some way...why not have the Air Marshall sit up front in the jump seat?? With his MP5 slung over his chest, while he wears his nomex, navy blue flight suit, ski mask, etc etc etc.....I am only kidding about the last bit there. But really, If we really want to arm the flight deck, why not move an Air Marshall up there?
In technical terms, are pilots not considered Peace Officers? And do we not arm Peace officers in some of our countries?
And if we really want those up front armed in some way...why not have the Air Marshall sit up front in the jump seat?? With his MP5 slung over his chest, while he wears his nomex, navy blue flight suit, ski mask, etc etc etc.....I am only kidding about the last bit there. But really, If we really want to arm the flight deck, why not move an Air Marshall up there?
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: France
Posts: 2,315
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I-FORD,
If you mean Europe should follow their lead, I'm not sure it's the eurobureaucrats that will be the issue.
Many Americans, and by implication most American pilots, have at least some fire-arm training.
Not many Europeans do, so European pilots may well be very reluctant to adopt the idea.
US bids to give guns to pilots on all flights
The first intelligent proposal I've seen in the last years.
Now I'm waiting to the eurobureaucrats to follow.
I'n not holding my breath though.
The first intelligent proposal I've seen in the last years.
Now I'm waiting to the eurobureaucrats to follow.
I'n not holding my breath though.
Many Americans, and by implication most American pilots, have at least some fire-arm training.
Not many Europeans do, so European pilots may well be very reluctant to adopt the idea.
Great idea!
Now weŽll go through at least three-day initial ground school of how to handle your weapon, how to clean it and maintain it ready. Also lot of lessons about gun safety which will make our cockpit security procedures look childlishly simple.
Refreshers with actual shooting practice in cockpit mock-up and at range at least twice a year! Yahooooo!
Now IŽve closed overbord vent, I invite everyone who said it was good idea to admit that (s)he has never, ever discharged a real gun, on range or otherwise. IŽve had my fair share of playing with guns while I was in the army and that made up my mind not to have anything with firearms ever again, unless positivelly forced by my goverment. Folks, I tell ya it ainŽt like in the movies at all! Michael Moore is heart-bleeding liberal but heŽs made good point: firearms do make more trouble than they solve.
Untill we solve the problem of everyone-hates-us-and-wants-us-dead, IŽll always vote for more armour, not more firepower.
Now weŽll go through at least three-day initial ground school of how to handle your weapon, how to clean it and maintain it ready. Also lot of lessons about gun safety which will make our cockpit security procedures look childlishly simple.
Refreshers with actual shooting practice in cockpit mock-up and at range at least twice a year! Yahooooo!
Now IŽve closed overbord vent, I invite everyone who said it was good idea to admit that (s)he has never, ever discharged a real gun, on range or otherwise. IŽve had my fair share of playing with guns while I was in the army and that made up my mind not to have anything with firearms ever again, unless positivelly forced by my goverment. Folks, I tell ya it ainŽt like in the movies at all! Michael Moore is heart-bleeding liberal
but heŽs made good point: firearms do make more trouble than they solve.Untill we solve the problem of everyone-hates-us-and-wants-us-dead, IŽll always vote for more armour, not more firepower.