FFDO criticizes TSA gets visited at home by six LEOs

[Jim Smyth]

It's not always the rampers with SIDA badges that need to be worried about...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FedEx_Express_Flight_705


"The then 42 year old FedEx Express Flight Engineer Auburn Calloway, an alumnus of Stanford University and a former military pilot and martial arts expert..."



Yep. That's the gapping hole in the FFDO program...

The 911 hijackers didn't use guns. They had box cutters for Christ sake. The crews had Crash Axes in the flightdeck. The policy at the time was "cooperate don't escalate" hence the crews gave up the cockpit voluntarily. WOULDN'T HAPPEN THAT WAY AGAIN.

Firearms on the flightdeck pose more problems than they thwart...

Gapping hole? You obviously havent gone through the program. Your scenario above may have been stopped if they had to go through the FFDO program. Pilot Physiological conditions aside its about as good a program you can do and has been a huge success measured by numbers and statistics. You have motivated Pilots stepping up to the plate for the sole sake of safety. No pay, lots of extra continuing work/training, huge liability exposures etc.

You have other Law Enforcement, Doctors, Lawyers, Politicians, Teachers, Postal Workers that occasionally make the news for going off the deep end. I would put the Pilots profession up against any of the other professions with regards to stability. A Pilot that is unstable to fly doesnt need a gun or additional security to do major damage. They have there hands on the control wheel, think about that!

So we can agree to disagree. As long as there is people out there willing to DIE (and take everyone with them) we need to be prepared. If you want to be unprepared thats your choice, I choose to be prepared! We can never let another 911 happen on our watch. Mine and my families future depends on that.

 

[Redmeat]

Pilot Physiological conditions aside

That's a HUGE "aside" isn't it? Just because a pilot was physiologically fit at the time of going thru the FFDO program, (and that's assuming the 'tests' are flawless...which they're not...nothing in this world is), doesn't help when said pilot "goes off the deep end" at some point further down the road. Granted it is rare but I'll take my chances fighting over the controls with an un-armed nut job rather than an armed one.

A Pilot that is unstable to fly doesnt need a gun or additional security to do major damage. They have there hands on the control wheel, think about that!

Introducing firearms onto the flightdeck poses more potential problems than it thwarts. Again...I'll take my chances fighting for the controls with an unarmed nut job rather than an armed one.

 

[Jim Smyth]

That's a HUGE "aside" isn't it? Just because a pilot was physiologically fit at the time of going thru the FFDO program, (and that's assuming the 'tests' are flawless...which they're not...nothing in this world is), doesn't help when said pilot "goes off the deep end" at some point further down the road. Granted it is rare but I'll take my chances fighting over the controls with an un-armed nut job rather than an armed one.




Introducing firearms onto the flightdeck poses more potential problems than it thwarts. Again...I'll take my chances fighting for the controls with an unarmed nut job rather than an armed one.

Good thing your not in charge!

 

[batsky2000]

Several federal laws were passed after the crash, including a law that required "immediate seizure of all airline employee credentials" after termination from an airline position. A policy was also put into place stipulating that all airline flight crew were to be subject to the same security measures as passengers.

I guess that policy went out the door for FFDO's, they are airline flight crews, the only difference being that they have a license to carry a loaded weapon in the cockpit, so because of that they should be exempt from being screened? Yea that makes things more secure.......Should be one policy, it should not matter if you are an FFDO or not, same screening policy..................

No one thought this was going to ever happen but it did, and from someone who was supposed to help others, you still think it can't happen in the cockpit??? And this guy went through many years of testing and training to be a psychologist, especially for the military.... Yea right.......

On Thursday November 5, 2009 disaster struck the Fort Hood army post in Texas. The suspects name is Major Nidal Malik Hasan who open fired on unarmed military members killing 12 and wounding 31 others. Major Hasan

pulled out two weapons one of which was a semi-automatic gun, neither of the weapons were military issue. The Fort Hood, Texas army post was put on lockdown until the situation was contained. Suspect Hasan was originally thought to be dead but he was not killed and is currently wounded and in military custody.

More and more information about the Fort Hood Shooting has come forth as time continues. Nidal Hasan is an American citizen who practices the Muslim religion. Hasan is a Major in the army who is also a psychologist...

 

[Jim Smyth]

So maybe the military shouldnt have guns either?

The thread was started about the TSA and a FDDO/Pilot that exposed a weakness in the system thats been around a long time. The FFDO program is here to stay. If you dont like it then try to change it. Other than that all the whining you do on FI because you dont like the FFDO program is pointless.

 

[Redmeat]

So maybe the military shouldnt have guns either?

The thread was started about the TSA and a FDDO/Pilot that exposed a weakness in the system thats been around a long time. The FFDO program is here to stay. If you dont like it then try to change it. Other than that all the whining you do on FI because you dont like the FFDO program is pointless.

I don't think batsky is whining. He is debating.

The FFDO program was a knee jerk reaction made among a SLEW of other knee jerk reactions addressing 911 (TSA for example???).

The simple fact is the perpetrators of 911 were on the radar already and a known commodity but were allowed to slip thru the cracks. That scenario was easily preventable and could not happen again today...and that has nothing to do with the FFDO program...or the TSA for that matter.

I find it ironic that the same people who criticize the TSA are gung-ho for the FFDO program.

The topic reminds me of a captain I flew with long before 911 who was big time into guns and shooting in his off time. It's all he talked about. I remember thinking to myself that he was just a little too into guns... and I'm not anti-gun ownership. I bet that guy can't even think straight now he's got such a woody with the FFDO program.

 

[Jim Smyth]

I have stated my opinions and I am through. Maybe a few Pilots got something after the history lesson, then again maybe not. The next round of improvements (or lapses with complacency) in security will come with this current generation of Pilots. Time will tell if its better, worse or about the same as before. I did my part to make the skies a safer place to fly.