It is a worrying thought but the next time you are on an American registered scheduled aircraft flying in the USA (but not across the Atlantic) the pilot could be carrying a gun.
The American pilots would have been trained by the new Transportation Security Administration but with 30,000 armed pilots expected to be authorised over the next five years the idea even worried the White House. However Congress has passed the law. If you were to ride on El Al, the world”s most security conscious airline, as far as we are aware the pilots do not carry guns. However the aircraft do, allegedly, fly with specialist security agents on board, gun carrying professionals experts in their field.
US pilots will receive 48 hours of training including firearms instruction, defensive tactics, instruction in the use of force, legal liability and information on how to safely transport their weapons. They undertake psychological tests which indicate whether or not they would have problems about killing another person.
The first course has now graduated from an Administration school in Glynco, Georgia, the graduates issued with a .40 calibre semi-automatic pistol to use in defence of the aircraft cockpit. Once they have finished the training course, the pilots take an oath as federal flight deck officers and are then given the handgun and ammunition in a metal lockbox. The weapon is to be withdrawn from the metal box only once the pilots are installed in the cockpit.
The US domestic airline passenger market is being particularly hurt at the present time. What you have to ask yourself is would you feel safer if you knew there was a gun in the cockpit and the (pressurisation) problems if it went off. And what does this extra security tell us about precautions taken at airports against terrorists and other renegades, and for that matter the fortune being spent by airlines on reinforced bullet proof flight deck doors. Is it a question of overkill (if that is the right word), or has the American gun lobby won once again? http://129.33.119.130/public/display?theme=44&content=555