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Pilot's gun discharges on US Airways flight
wcnc via Drudge Report ^ | March 23, 2008 | DIANA RUGG

Posted on 03/23/2008 6:14:42 PM PDT by RDTF

CHARLOTTE, N.C.-- A US Airways pilot’s gun accidentally discharged during a flight from Denver to Charlotte Saturday, according to as statement released by the airline. The statement said the discharge happened on Flight 1536, which left Denver at approximately 6:45am and arrived in Charlotte at approximately 11:51am.

The Airbus A319 plane landed safely and none of the flight’s 124 passengers or five crew members was injured, according to the statement. It was a full flight. An airline spokeswoman said the plane has been taken out of service to make sure it is safe to return to flight. A Transportation Safety Administration spokeswoman reached by WCNC Sunday said the pilot is part of TSA’s Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO) program, which trains pilots to carry guns on flights.

-snip-

(Excerpt) Read more at wcnc.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aerospace; airlines; armedpilots; banglist; ffdo; tsa; usairways
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To: Lancey Howard
WTF!

Stupid is as Stupid does, eh Forrest?

61 posted on 03/23/2008 6:48:51 PM PDT by AFreeBird
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To: RDTF
A D.C. police officer accidentally shot herself in the foot Saturday

Other than the above, the story at the link really provides no useful information.

62 posted on 03/23/2008 6:49:22 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: Eaker

Where did I note thr trigger wss not depressed? Besides, I don’t have at hand the articles where on duty police had a Glock fire without being in hand. They get remarkable trigger depressions, even when in a holster or being shoved into a holster.


63 posted on 03/23/2008 6:49:48 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Believing they cannot be deceived, they cannot be convinced when they are deceived.)
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To: RDTF
What immediately came to mind as I was reading this was that the TSA, and the administration in general, were never very enthusiastic about permitting armed pilots on civilian flights.

So I'm wondering if this was really an accidental or negligent discharge at all? Or was it perhaps a carefully orchestrated ploy to generate huge negative publicity (yet to come in following days I'm guessing) to kill the entire program once and for all?

I hope I'm wrong, but this just doesn't "feel" right.

If Obama or Mrs. Clinton use it as an excuse to bring the issue of "sensible" gun control into the campaign, then we will know.

64 posted on 03/23/2008 6:49:59 PM PDT by StopGlobalWhining (Only 3 1/2-5% of atmospheric CO2 is the result of human activities. 95-96.5% is from natural sources)
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To: Lancey Howard

she was holstering it


65 posted on 03/23/2008 6:50:04 PM PDT by RDTF
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To: P8riot

Unless it knocked out a window, no.


66 posted on 03/23/2008 6:50:19 PM PDT by valkyry1
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To: infantrywhooah; El Gato

There is no such thing as an accidental discharge.

A negligent discharge is caused by either ignorance or carelessness.

The person can be considered ignorant, if they have not been trained.

They are careless, if they disregard their training.


67 posted on 03/23/2008 6:50:42 PM PDT by Uri’el-2012 (you shall know that I, YHvH, your Savior, and your Redeemer, am the Elohim of Ya'aqob. Isaiah 60:16)
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To: RDTF

PROBABLY not a big deal. Statistically, some of these types of incidents are inevitable, if you have enough people carrying arms. The relevant QUESTION: Is the Public better off giving terrorists a free rein?


68 posted on 03/23/2008 6:53:24 PM PDT by 2harddrive (...House a TOTAL Loss.....)
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To: infantrywhooah

That is my point.

It is why I have been able to carry a Glock daily for close to 15 years without a single ND.


69 posted on 03/23/2008 6:53:55 PM PDT by Eaker (2 Thessalonians 3:10 “... He that will not work, neither should he eat.”)
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To: Kirkwood

That’s so wrong....LOL


70 posted on 03/23/2008 6:54:03 PM PDT by Greystoke
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To: seacapn

He yells Allah Akbar as he dives the plane into the ocean

I don’t know if that is protocol but there is a precedence.


71 posted on 03/23/2008 6:54:12 PM PDT by Cold Heart
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To: Kirkwood
All the more reason not to have a round in the chamber. There is no reason I can think of why a pilot would need to have a hot weapon in the aircraft. In all honesty I really don't see why they should even have them in the cockpit at all. This incident is living proof why.
72 posted on 03/23/2008 6:54:20 PM PDT by infantrywhooah
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To: Lancey Howard

is his finger on the trigger too??


73 posted on 03/23/2008 6:54:43 PM PDT by Content Provider
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To: Eaker

99% of revolvers don’t have safeties, because they are really not needed. For a DA revolver, they take an extremely long and strong pull, unlike the Glock. If SA, they need to be cocked first. The chances of a revolver accidentally or negligently discharging are much, much less than a Glock. Even so, most people I know who carry revolvers do so with an empty chambers. As someone said earlier, there is no reason to carry any weapon in condition one in cockpit with a locked door.


74 posted on 03/23/2008 6:55:28 PM PDT by Kirkwood (Ask me again tomorrow.)
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To: RDTF

“US Airways pilot’s gun accidentally discharged during a flight from Denver to Charlotte Saturday,”

So?

People make such a huge deal out of everything gun related. Any story that involves a gun immediately becomes a huge story where the gun is the focal point.

The great mysterious aura of the gun is such a made up media farce. Pact with cliché, urban myths, bad Hollywood physics, highly politicized by the mid 80s, some people think that this inanimate object of steel, wood, and plastic has some mind altering effect on people. Press it into someone’s hands and immediately they go amok, or so is the reasoning of these self proclaimed intellectuals. Of course all the good done with this tool is ignored and any evil is associated to the tool, not its operator.

In Alaska when I lived there, we had mandatory carry laws for pilots long before 911 (survival reasons). It’s never been an issue, still isn’t. http://www.equipped.org/ak_cnda.htm Even the military aero clubs must conform and we carried a pistol in a pack (packed with all survival gear necessary) that we threw into every aircraft before takeoff. Pilots carrying a gun both private and commercial makes a lot of sense, and of course had I said this pre-911 some would have argued that I’m an idiot, because they after all or so intellectual and open minded. Of course there will be accidents, so what?


75 posted on 03/23/2008 6:55:38 PM PDT by Red6 (Come and take it.)
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To: Kirkwood

A big difference between the GLOCK, XD, or ParaOrdinance LDA and a revolver is: the hammer of the revolver is not cocked. The hammer of the others is partially cocked, but not enough, in theory, to detonate the primer.

Basic idea: In the absence of a separate safety, the harder you have to pull on a trigger, the less likely you are to have a negligent discharge.

For purposes of argument, let us say that it is 1/3rd cocked. The trigger on these others normally pull with about 5 lbs pressure. The revolver trigger has to fully cock the hammer, and so takes 8 to 11 lbs to fully cock. The Glock has a NY Trigger option that pushes the trigger pull up to 8 lbs.

I have a Cobra Arms derringer in .38 Special, and it has a 14 pound trigger. With no trigger guard, that is just about adequate. Fortunately, it sits safe in my safe, empty.

I had my ND when I was 20, with a revolver with a 12 lb trigger. It is not the kind of thing you ever want to repeat.


76 posted on 03/23/2008 6:55:58 PM PDT by donmeaker (You may not be interested in War but War is interested in you.)
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To: Kirkwood
Glocks are designed for cops and gangbangers.....

I have two, but I'm neither a cop nor a gangbanger. Just a reg'lar guy. A gun-totin' conservative, knuckle-draggin' reg'lar guy.

77 posted on 03/23/2008 6:56:08 PM PDT by meyer (Still conservative, no longer Republican)
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To: Eaker

“That is why some of us can carry a Glock safely and the negligent can’t.”

Good luck with that. LOL.


78 posted on 03/23/2008 6:58:27 PM PDT by Kirkwood (Ask me again tomorrow.)
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To: Kirkwood
they take an extremely long and strong pull, unlike the Glock

Never shot a Glock have ya?

79 posted on 03/23/2008 6:58:32 PM PDT by Eaker (2 Thessalonians 3:10 “... He that will not work, neither should he eat.”)
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To: Content Provider

lol! looks like the guys might be missing something else also.


80 posted on 03/23/2008 6:59:23 PM PDT by bobby.223
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