"Gord Beaman" ) wrote in
:

"John R Weiss" wrote:

"Gord Beaman" wrote...

I'm also slightly against arming pilots because to endanger these
'Most Essential to Flight" units (pilots) in -any- way isn't
smart...we should put all effort into keeping miscreants out of
the cockpit.

Good in theory, but not necessarily foolproof in reality.


I just can't believe that a secure double door
system coupled with an iron clad -procedure- is that hard to
design or that expensive.

The double door idea is obviously practicable, or else El Al wouldn't
have them. OTOH, US airlines are so driven by short-term profits and
artificially low ticket prices due to "competition" that none of them
is willing to be first to implement the "safest" measures.

Just as nobody could believe 9-11 could happen even once, nobody is
willing to admit it could happen again. Until then, we'll be saddled
with partial solutions.


Just imagine the cost to an airline of
one successful hijack, not just for the hardware, more than
likely that'd be mostly covered by insurance but imagine the cost
in missed revenue due to public apprehension.

So, if armed pilots thwart only ONE hijacking...

Quite true BUT. I worry about endangering those 'essential to
flight units'. Think of the ever present danger of a loaded
pistol in the comparatively small confines of an airliner cockpit
for years and years,

What's years and years got to do with anything? Guns and ammo can be stored
for many years without problems.Any military does it constantly.
Guns don't fire on their own,it takes a PERSON to mishandle one.
And something like 70% of those pilots are ex-military pilots,so they
already have experience with guns.
The "ever-present danger" is only in your own mind.


while a steel door (or two) is fairly
innocuous. Also, as a matter of curiosity, what would you expect
to happen if a 9MM or so slug were to go through one of the
windscreens?. Aren't most glass and plastic laminated? (NESA?)

Why would the pilots be firing FORWARD,when the hijackers would be coming
from REARWARDS?




--
Jim Yanik
jyanik-at-kua.net