"Only anti-gun extremists and terrorist recruits are worried about armed pilots."

[unixronin]

From the Washington Times:

Only anti-gun extremists and terrorist recruits are worried about armed pilots.  So why is the Obama administration catering to this tiny lobby at the expense of public safety?

It could be just me, but I believe the writer just answered his own question.

(Via a pointer from lonewolf545)

Comments

[novel-tharkun.livejournal.com]

You're last item was my point, taking over the plane is difficult & unlikely.

However, while I may well be wrong in my tactical analysis, I'm doubtful of the security of the cockpit once the body of the plane has been taken. The air supply, if naught else, is susceptible to tampering. Probably many of the flight & radio controls as well, though doing that in short time without crashing is likely beyond most groups. I'm not as certain about the difficulty in tampering with the autopilot controls, which actually run the majority of flight-time of passenger airliners.

Also, even in the post-9/11 world (and as an aside, I'm sick of that phrase) I've witnessed cockpit & crew interactions, cockpit entries, and cockpit exits. So it seems at least vaguely possible to my untrained mind that a team could subdue or overtake an aircraft body without the cockpit's awareness. From there normal interactions and a sense of complacency absent warning lead to likely failures of the security system.