49W-
Flying an airplane and carrying a firearm are two completely different concerns. Having the ability to make a "shoot/don't shoot" decision in less thann a second (or five minutes for that matter) does not even equate to the decision to "shoot" a CAT II approach.
There is decision making process in the cockpit that, in the case of a commercial airliner, involves two people with the same information and knowlage base. With the armed pilot situation, you have one person with all the chips and looking at the cards, and another in the seat next to him that dosent even know which way the game is played.
Before I start gettng bashed, please understand that I think the FFDO program has some merit. However, I do feel as though there are some large safety problems with the program and I will just keep it at that for now. But as a retired law enforcement officer and a current airline pilot, I can see both sides of the argument. I have made both the "CAT II" and the "shoot" descisions at differnet times in my life.
The safety of passangers should start and be in place prior to our pushing from he gate. There are programs in the world where proper prescreening of passangers works, and works well. Israel has had one such program in play for almost 30 years.
