CHARLOTTE, N.C.—It was only a matter of time before there’d be an accidental, non-negligent discharge of a Federal Flight Deck Officer’s weapon. Saturday a U.S. Airways pilot’s gun discharged 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 thankfully none of the flight’s 124 passengers or five crew members was injuredThe insane procedures required by the TSA demands that our pilots to lock and then un-lock their .40 side arms was and is a solid recipe for disaster. Did the TSA deliberately create this bizarre and unconventional Rube Goldberg firearm retention system hoping for this result? The sordid history of the FAA and TSA’s total resistance to the concept of arming pilots to protect Americans is in itself a scandal.
Putting a gun into a holster and then threading a padlock through the trigger and trigger-guard is required every time the pilots enter or leave the cockpit. This kind of silliness has never been forced on any law enforcement or security officers anywhere in the world until now. Before this holster padlock procedure pilots with guns were forced to carry them around in a cumbersome 22 pound vault. The vault caused problems in the confined space of most cockpits.
FFDO pilots need to carry their side arms in conventional concealed holsters and there is no reason for the unnecessary handling of their firearms in the cockpits.
More information can be found here.
14 comments:
Amen. Weapon loses, misplacements, and finally an accidental discharge stem from a silly policy that is steeped in political controversy. It comes down to you either trust the pilots or you don't trust the pilots. Their weapons should be strapped to their hip from the time they leave their home/hotel until the return.
Imagine as a local law enforcement agent if you had to keep your weapon in this lock and in a bag until you got in your squad car. Only then could you unlock it and while seated undo your belt and put the weapon on. Then if you had to go to the bathroom you had to undo your belt again, remove the weapon, install the lock, and place it in a little bag again. After the hernia you'd never go to the bathroom or leave your squad car again. I've spoken to many an FFDO and while they are very professional and take carrying very seriously, they are amazed that eventhough the are the commanders of the aircraft they still aren't trusted.
Amen. Weapon loses, misplacements, and finally an accidental discharge stem from a silly policy that is steeped in political controversy. It comes down to you either trust the pilots or you don't trust the pilots. Their weapons should be strapped to their hip from the time they leave their home/hotel until the return.
Imagine as a local law enforcement agent if you had to keep your weapon in this lock and in a bag until you got in your squad car. Only then could you unlock it and while seated undo your belt and put the weapon on. Then if you had to go to the bathroom you had to undo your belt again, remove the weapon, install the lock, and place it in a little bag again. After the hernia you'd never go to the bathroom or leave your squad car again. I've spoken to many an FFDO and while they are very professional and take carrying very seriously, they are amazed that eventhough the are the commanders of the aircraft they still aren't trusted.
That is 100% rediculous. To make the pilots padlock their guns to their holsters. Who is the brain dead sob that thought that one up. hell come to think of it. All the security that has been implemented at the airports is nothing more than one big charade. It's all cosmetic horse crap.
Well, silliness is not just against US pilots: not long ago, there was an article about a pilot upgrading from single-engine to multi-engine-jet license at the employer`s behest. But being a woman in Saudi Arabia, she could not drive herself to the airport!
So, does this mean the pilot has to secure his weapon before he comes out of the cockpit to confront possible terrorists?
I can't believe that they mandate that much administrative handling of the weapon. That's just recipe for negligent discharges.
Yeah, and this UD was not the first one using this insane padlock procedure. I know of at least one other incident that happened during an FFDO training event where the padlock was placed in front of the trigger rather than behind it and a UD resulted.
Long before this incident occurred, the pilots had nicknamed this rig the "ADH" for Auto-Discharge Holster.
Long before this incident occurred, the pilots had nicknamed this rig the "ADH" for Auto-Discharge Holster.
To Steve, who commented on 3/26,
Pilots are specifically prohibited from coming out of the cockpit to deal with ANY situation. The jurisdiction of an FFDO is the cockpit, and his/her mission is only to keep unauthorized people from entering the cockpit.
Has anyone forwarded this to the media links (Drudge, FOX, ABC, NBC, etc?)
Once the mainstream media picks it up, pressure will focus on congress to make the sorely need changes.
I know several FFDO pilots and they are re-thinking partisipating in the program. The USAir Captain has been suspended pending an investigation with a possible loss of job/career. No FFDO ever thought that volunteering for this program could be a career killer. The pilots volunteer, don't get paid and in fact have to pay their own way for training. The government virtually gets a free security barrier at the expense of the pilots. Now because of these silly procedures, it may cost pilots more than just money.
Once the mainstream media picks it up, pressure will focus on congress to make the sorely need changes.
Congress isn't the problem. Congress has authorized the armed pilots program twice now, with very little administrative BS. All the BS content is added in the executive branch by Bush administration weenies (like Norman Mineta) trying their best to undermine the program while not showing direct contempt of Congress. The Bush administration is not a friend of armed self-defense for the unsworn, despite Ashcroft's empty lip service.
Funny, the government trusts pilots to fly a 900,000 pound $300,000,000 aircraft with 450 passengers (747), but doesn't trust them to carry a firearm without a lock.
Somebody's priorities are askew.
Post a Comment