Who do you trust?

9/11/01 | Me

[AmericanDave]

Pilots are disarmed daily, WHY?

[AmericanDave]

I am an airline pilot. I cannot even carry a serated knife through security, IN UNIFORM, WITH MY I.D.! I control the throttles, I don't need any weapons except to defend my passengers and crew from terrorists. In the heyday of aviation many Captains carried pistols in their (unsearched) flight bags....

[Voltage]

Stagecoach drivers carried weapons! But then America had more sense 100 years ago.

[An American!]

Question...
Why bring any weapons on the airplane at all? If you post an armed guard, one moments lapse and all is lost and you have some MENTAL CASE armed on your airplane.

Would it not be better to secure the pilots cabin behind bulletproof door or something?

[The Duke]

Pilots are disarmed daily, WHY?

Because you (and I) live in a cowardly nation.

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

I've spent a good part of my life in the service of this country, in Special Forces and Ranger units- but I had my KUBOTAN ( an inoffensive 6" plastic rod) taken away by a self-important welfare-to-work "security screener" in San Francisco (SFO). She decided that it was a "weapon". I asked her what would she do if I had a 6" steel bolt, instead? The reply was "nothin', that not be on the list".

True story, so help me God.

I guess my point is that our "airport security" system has been a farce and a total waste of time and money from it's inception- just another con game to make the sheeple feel good.

[america76]

Why? Because Americans are not cowards that hide behind locked doors, contrary to what liberals have told you. Americans fight!

[glock rocks]

Who do you trust?

um...

my family. oh, and my best friend and his wife.
i guess that’s it, for now.
oh, and when i fly for business, my pilot.

[William_Rusher]

7600 or 7700 for hijack on the transponder?
Once you dial it in do you still need to hit ident to squak it or does it automatically start transmitting?
Also, when the Pentagon plane headed west, turned off its tponder and headed back still on radar but not id'd in class B or C airspace over and around all of D.C. , how long until radar folks consider it an emergency and fighter a/c are launched to intercept?
Also,is there not a fuel dump switch inside the cockpit so a pilot could dump his load and hence never reach his destination and what is the likelyhood that that is what the PA pilot did that caused the a/c to not reach D.C. and crash outside Pittsburg?

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

Does the word "hoplophobia" mean anything to you? It probably should, since you are apparently a raving hoplophobe!

[oldvike]

I heard a pilot interviewed on the Phil Valentine Show (Phil is the guy who organized the Tennessee Tax Revolt this year) tonight and he said that the cockpit doors were paper thin and anybody could kick them in.

If a terrorist armed with even a meager little knife suddenly busts that door down and enters the cabin, the unsuspecting pilots would never know what hit them. After all, they are concentrating on flying the plane. They would be dead with slit throats in a blink of an eye. IMO, somebody on these planes needs to be armed to prevent this. Just my ramblings, take them for what their worth.

[JackelopeBreeder]

On a recent flight from Tucson to San Jose, my plastic wine bottle corkscrew was confiscated and had to fly up front with the crew in a neatly sealed box -- neatly sealed with the equivalent of crime scene tape and solemnly initialed by both the rent-a-cop and me. I was, however, allowed to keep my 4" Buck knife which was in the same pocket of my briefcase. Methinks they were maybe afraid I had smuggled my own wine aboard and was trying to avoid the $4 charge for official onboard screw-cap vin ordinaire...

[Twodees]

I don't get it either, Dave. Back when there was still a Piedmont Airlines, I knew a Captain for Piedmont who had been with them since they started up with some DC-3s. All their pilots in the early days were AF vets and most carried their service sidearms on domestic flights, he told me.

Armed flight crews could have saved tens of thousands of lives today, IMHO.

[savedbygrace]

God.

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

You know, I fly enough that I don't doubt that your story is true!!! LOL!

I have also traveled with my pistol- but I will deny that if questioned.

[bullypulpit]

I believe the transponder code is 7500; or, after you land, leave your flaps extended to indicate that you are being highjacked. Just because you have a moving blip in Class C or B airspace doesn't mean they are going to scramble fighters. Usually, they'll track the blip down after the blip lands and issue a violation citation. That is, unless, you are along the border, particularly the souther border where the drugs flow.

[bullypulpit]

If you are a ship's captain, you are required to carry a weapon, no? I find it ridiculous that airline captains are not only allowed to carry weapons, but also that they are not trained on how to use weapons and offered proper security and psycological safeguards to make a pistol sidearm required!!

[upchuck]

Does the word "hoplophobia" mean anything to you?

Nope, sorry. It doesn't. And, FWIW, these guyz don't either. Can you raise our IQ? Thanx!

[William_Rusher]

I agree with the blip stuff but not in the airspace around D.C. , or down in Houston near NASA. First hand experience in Houston on my part. Co-pilot forgot to move tponder from standby to normal/on and we had a fighter escort before they even called us on guard.

The citation/ass-chewing/ yanking of my PIC orders came before I landed.

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

Try a Greek dictionary: "HOPLOS + PHOBOS"

There, glad I could help with your SAT prep.

[cactmh]

I think it is ridiculous that you can't carry a weapon. You have control of the whole aircraft for G-d's sake.