See you all in Jetblast...

Exactly ! How quickly everybody forgets .

Who would be more likely to open the cockpit door to help a pax/FA or engage the baddie. Those with a gun or those without?

I'm sorry if my irony wasn't apparent. Again, the question was: why a gun in the cockpit with a locked armoured door?

The flight deck door must come open during the flight at some point in the flight (food , drinks , etc ) that is the time of vulnerability . I'm sure the bank vault door must come open at some point and when it does there will be plenty of armed security nearby.

I gather he was suffering from A319 ecam rage, having earlier had to have his gun x-rayed by an over zealous TSA officer.

Pilots should be allowed to pack heat, I have seen a yank glock land side in Manch, the Pilots just carried them through on the coach to the Hotac.

Surely this is a one off incident in Gods own country. Come on UK Dft make Pilots part of the front line! Not the f:mad:ing suspects!

:ok:

This pilot, who was sitting in the left seat, last re-qualified on Nov. 7, 2007.U.S. Airways said it is cooperating with law enforcement authorities investigating the incident.The Federal Air Marshall service said this is the first time anything like this has happened. Federal Flight Deck Officers use Heckler and Koch universal self-loading 40-caliber pistols and are allowed to carry these weapons ready to use -- like any other law enforcement officer. The Federal Flight Deck Officers need to be re-qualified twice a year.A federal aviation security source told ABC the discharged round hit the side of the Airbus A319 and did not hit any sensitive equipment. The round likely exited the bulkhead but did not result in depressurization. The incident occurred on final approach.TSA said passengers were not aware that the weapon was discharged and flight 1536 landed without incident.The jet has been taken out of service for inspection.

Must be part of a new approach procedure....... Check pistol, cleared to land

Does US Air hand out earplugs to pax now? I've been in a building when an accidental discharge occurred, believe me, everyone knew it.

GF

Getting back to the actual incident for a moment, the latest report I read says the aircraft has been taken out of service. No word on damages, if any.

=====
CHICAGO (Reuters) - The gun carried by a US Airways pilot accidentally went off on a flight from Denver to Charlotte on Saturday, causing the plane to be pulled from service, the airline said on Monday.

No one was injured by the shot, and the aircraft landed safely in Charlotte. Flight 1536 had 124 passengers, two pilots and three flight attendants aboard, US Airways said.

The pilot was a Federal Flight Deck Officer, permissioned by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration to carry a firearm.
=====

We now return you to the previously scheduled programming....

We knew it was going to happen, it happened. When will they (they = airline management, regulatory bodies, whoever - anybody who can stick their oar in) start listening to pilots - the people that actually know what they are talking about? The problem is a difficult one to solve and I don't have all the answers but guns on the flight deck is a BAD THING. Anybody listening?

Catch23 ?
 

Run this by me again?

You have to lock the gun away when you open the door to go for a slash.?

So, when the door is open, the time of max vulnerability, you have the gun
locked away, but when the door is locked, and there is little threat, you
can take it out and .......

Nah, that cant be right.....

But it probably is.

a weapon was accidentally discharged in the cockpit of a passenger filled aircraft, in flight. I'd like to see the logic behind TSA's statement.

This has to be the funniest post ever....:D

Precisely the discussion I had the first time an FFDO showed up to fly with me. We were given very little information and it was the first time I heard what the protocol was. BTW - they have to lock it away so a bad guy can't take it from them if they get into the cockpit when the cockpit door is open. (How about designing it so the door is never open to the cabin?)

Frankly, at this point I'm more concerned about someone tossing something into the cockpit through the open door. A broken bottle of Chanel #5 will take me down in a second!

Only in America
 

Oh SO true.

What on earth was the F/O thinking of ? An imminent attack by 'camel jockeys' as I gather they're called over there ?

Christ, guys like that are a hazard to us all !

Catch 23
 

Fortunately, not a problem on my aircraft;
No cockpit door, in fact, no cockpit, :p

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=b_0jtfMIilM

And the rate WITHOUT gun toting nitwits on the flighdeck is ........ ?

you can google as good as I can, but this will get you started......

Just a few words--

In the firearms training community the saying goes that there is no such thing as an accidental discharge-- we call them negligent discharges because that's what they are. Calling them accidental discharges is like having a pilot forget to lower the gear and calling it an accidental belly landing. Nothing accidental about it.

The firearms which pilots are allowed to carry can only be fired by pulling the trigger- period. The gun doesn't go off by itself, and it doesn't go off if dropped, hit, kicked, slammed, jolted, or otherwise displaced with (insert euphemism of choice).

One of the primary firearms safety rules goes as follows: do not place your finger on the trigger or inside of the trigger guard unless you are on target and have made a conscious decision to fire. If this rule is followed, the gun won't go off.

As for the shots at the American gun culture-- I know it's terribly untidy and offensive to your high-browed sensibilities, but it's served us well since the mid 1700's-- and I don't seem to recall too many complaints from your side of the pond during the last century while the products of our gun culture in uniform were making your part of the world safe for afternoon tea.:mad:

If someone finds their way into your little Valhalla in flight, feel free to bestow upon them the merits of reconsidering their hostile activities in lieu of a more respectable moral code-- I'll hope the guy flying the plane I'm on will be aerating the intruder's vital organs-- but there I go being American.:ugh:

[JOURNALIST WARNING!]

Just to let you know, while I post here usually as a pilot, in this case it is a local Denver story so I 'm wearing my editor hat today. But just reading for deep background information - nothing for publication, no specific questions to ask.

Our story has a quote from a denver aviation official to the effect that the Tv show "Mythbusters" has demonstrated that a gunshot to the airframe skin or a window will not EXPLOSIVELY decompress a pressurized plane: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBus..._Decompression

On another point, Denver Airport official said it must have happened "near Charlotte", since the plane "did not return to Denver".(Yeah, I know - I'm just quoting him!) But that ties in with the news report quoted previously here that it happened on final approach.

[update - our story for tomorrow says the incident occurred at 9:50 Denver time, 11:50 Charlotte time, and the flight was due to land (according to FlightAware) right about 11:50 - so final approach sounds correct (and a bad time to be distracted by loud noises!)]