Firearms on the Flight Deck

[OldManPilot]

Should firearms be allowed on the flight deck, or are they just another source of possible problems?

 

[ATR-DRIVR]

no problem.

 

[TWA 2 ASA FO]

This sounds like a good idea until some pilot who thinks he is John Wayne is playing with the gun in the cockpit and shoots either himself or his fellow crewmember. I can't wait to see how the press will run with that story. How pilots are now MORE dangerous because they carry guns.

Think of the PR we already have. Thanks to numerous lapses in judgement alot of passengers think we all fly drunk. Thanks to one blunder due to a SW crew, some passengers think we fly around naked. Now add someone who "accidentily" discharged a firearm in the cockpit. This will definately not help portray the professionalism that 99.99% of our crew exhibit.

 

[msw]

Gun in the cockpit...........

It's better to have a gun and not need it, than to need a gun and not have it. Then again, I don't really worry about it, because I am always armed in MY cocpit.

 

[Stifler's Mom]

Think of the PR we already have. Thanks to numerous lapses in judgement alot of passengers think we all fly drunk. Thanks to one blunder due to a SW crew, some passengers think we fly around naked. Now add someone who "accidentily" discharged a firearm in the cockpit. This will definately not help portray the professionalism that 99.99% of our crew exhibit.

At least the public doesn't think we have porn under panels and yoke clips. Imagine the outrage if that one leaked out.

As far as guns go, I usually tell my close friends when they ask me about this (close friends only)...that I'm already dangerous enough in a cockpit without adding a gun to the mix.

They usually laugh, then we drink some more beer and tell stupid jokes.

And as far as the flying naked part, it's not just SWA. Just give it some time and somebody will show you some named pictures of a F/A in a plane that was being ferried home years ago.

 

[General Lee]

They would have to be stored in a "lock box" so the ground personel who cater the planes between flights don't grab them.

Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[acaTerry]

I think the problem is that the fearful are using it as a gun-control issue rather than a security issue. Let's face it....had everyone had a gun on 9/11, think of how many lives would have been saved.
So far as the responsibility and trainig to hold a gun...perhaps the youngsters coming in will not agree because they have not served, but most of us have been in the military and had guns a LOT bigger than anything that we'll ever have in the cockpit.
If you are scared of guns, then please go fly alone and leave those who want to protect their ships to do so.