[JETDRVR]

"Hate to break it to you, but most of the time you're in the plane it's on auto pilot. Barring turbulence or some other disturbance, after take off and before landing most of what the cockpit crew does is monitor instruments"


I hate to break to you ..... what if Capt Sky King with his Glock in hand responds to the threat and ooopppss gets clipped. Now you have just made Clarence the copilot vunerable to getting clipped as well. Archie Bunker (iirc) once said in response to the hijackings during the 70s that what we ought to do is give each pax a gun upon boarding. Now thats sound advice.

[freeeee]

what if Capt Sky King with his Glock in hand responds to the threat and ooopppss gets clipped.

Sky King never leaves the cockpit no matter what happens in the passenger area. The cockpit door stays closed and locked. If the door is never breached, the pilot lands immediately.

If the door is breached, the armed pilot has an effective means of defense and very likely will retain control of the plane. If in the unlikely event the armed pilot is overwhelmed by the attackers, all they have gained by the pilot being armed is a handgun with very little or no ammo, and their tactical position is little better than if he was unarmed: they have the plane either way. However it is almost certain they will lose at least a few of their number in the attack, perhaps losing the terrorist pilot and thus their ability to use the plane as a weapon. Perhaps at that point any remaining resistance in the passenger area would be strong enough to win.

If he is unarmed and the door is breached he will likely be killed or incapacitated. He will lose control of the plane and it will be used as a weapon or shot down by our people.