I'm intrigued by the idea of the following policy:

All commercial pilots must undergo fairly extensive firearms training and be armed when piloting the plane. In addition to this airplanes are built with reinforced cockpit doors that can be sealed off by the crew.

I'm interested to hear (1) if anyone is seriously oppposed to this idea and if so (2) what are possible problems with it.

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

I am for it. Give all the passengers weapons too.

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I think at this point there needs to be a focus on an immediate increase in spending and I think this is a time when deficit fear has to take a second seat . . . I believe later on there should be tax increases. Speaking personally, I think there are a lot of very rich people out there whom we can tax at a point down the road and recover some of the money."
-- Barney Frank, October 20, 2008

I'm not opposed, but, this could possibly put a gun in the hand of a hijacker, making the passengers much less likely to consider an uprising.

That being said, I believe that close quarters hand to hand/bladed weapon combat training might be preferable under the circumstances. Gunfire on an aircraft, even in the defense of the pilot could cause a depressurization, which will place the passengers at extreme risk. Not to mention, in close quarters, a knife is often a superior weapon.

By that logic, perhaps we should disarm the military and police as well. After all, it might put a weapon in the hand of an enemy or a criminal.
I dont. The training requirements are substantially different.
That is 100% bullshit. The only time a single bullet hole in a plane caused depressurization endangering ANYONE was in the movie Goldfinger. No, im not providing a link for you, this has been mentioned a bazillion times.
In the hands of a person who knows how to use it, and is willing to get cut himself.

I have nothing against blades - they just require far more training than a firearm to be able to use effectively.

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In case you were wondering, yes, there really ARE more idiots these days....technology has made natural selection obsolete.

It's true that you can hardly bring down a big airliner with a handgun. Explosive depressurization is rather unlikely to happen, even with a bullet hole in the plane. But even if it happens, the pilotes should be able to cope with it. A bullet could ouf course damage some electronic or hydraulic system. But those systems usually have backup systems. But in either situtation I would want to have the pilots in the cockpit rather than see them engaging in some fight with the hijackers.

Um... shooting off a gun inside a high altitude commercial airliner is not recommended...

Personally, I'm less concerned with the idea of a gunfight in a plane (which would certainly be undesirable) as opposed to prevention. Hijackers interested in gaining control of an aircraft would, IMO, be substantially deterred by the prospect of having to gain control through a reinforced door and an armed cockpit crew. This idea wouldn't prevent a would-be terrorist from blowing up a plane or killing passengers, but it would remove their ability to control the aircraft.

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

Neither is crashing one into a building. Which do you prefer?

If you're erroneously thinking it would harm the plane in any way, allow me to disabuse you of that notion. The size of the hole would be so small as to be likely unnoticed by the pressurization system, and unless it was a "Golden BB" kind of shot that somehow, someway, managed to take out all 3 of the redundant systems for any flight surface, it wouldnt even affect the aerodynamics.

You dont have to believe me. Do your own checking on the net. Its all OVER the place.

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In case you were wondering, yes, there really ARE more idiots these days....technology has made natural selection obsolete.

I do believe you an I are in agreement on this.

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In case you were wondering, yes, there really ARE more idiots these days....technology has made natural selection obsolete.

Why purpose would the guns serve?

Certainly I'd support the installation of a 'strong' wall and 'strong' locked cockpit door as those seem reasonable and functional. The gun recommendation doesn't seem to serve any purpose here if the cockpit door/wall is sufficently reinforced.

Another line of defense, I suppose. It would also theoretically give them the ability to stop a highjacker if they saw a window of opportunity, rather than simply holing up in the cockpit and hoping the door holds. I guess that I don't see much real detriment from arming the pilot, but I do see the potential for benefit (even if it isn't necessarily probable).

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson

I am strongly opposed.

from Merriam Websters:

Pilot:
1 a : one employed to steer a ship : HELMSMAN b : a person who is qualified and usually licensed to conduct a ship into and out of a port or in specified waters c : a person who flies or is qualified to fly an aircraft or spacecraft

Go spend some time on the NTSB aviation accident site and see how many are attributable to "pilot error".
Contrary to popular opinion, it's still a highly skilled profession requiring full attention. I don't think I feel comfortable sending them off to learn to fire weapons as well. Both of which should require recurrent training and constant practice. You'd be reshaping the entire job. We could learn from Israel I guess.

Michaels' right -That cockpit door is critical. Behind it, the pilots are already armed. There's a fire axe capable of chopping through the bulkhead or taking off a human head behind that door. The cockpit crew only need to be focused on flying that plane. If you want to arm someone, arm specialists to ride in the back.

The fire axe has already been used as a weapon against the crew. If I remember correctly, a former US Air pilot broke into the cockpit and hacked the captain. Secure the door!

Pilot's are no more trustworthy than you or I with gun's and the job frequently attracts a certain personality that I'm not sure is a good mix with flakey annoying passengers and guns. If you want to arm the cockpit crew, give them a thorough psychological evaluation too. Again - changing the entire nature of the job.

As for arming the passengers - fine. Secure the cockpit door though. Someone ought to be alive to bring home any survivors.

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...the government...is caving in...with their specious arguments couched in the...language of civil rights law, and that the churches ... likewise crumbling to...rhetoric which is nothing but heretical sophistry -- ~F Phelps
Platitudes like the one you offer are no different - and no less incorrect - than the jackass part-time Christian who says, "I'm going to heaven because I'm nice to people." It so misses the point.~Impugn

Damn good point.

My father was an airline pilot - exAir Force fighter pilot - just like 90% of all the other commercial airline pilots in North America.

The door is only reliable if none of the crew members are using it during the flight.

Add another lavatory and a mechanism for attendants to pass food and drink through to the cockpit without giving an opening that a person can get through it would work though.

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During the journey we commonly forget its goal. Almost every profession is chosen as a means to an end but continued as an end in itself. Forgetting our objectives is the most frequent act of stupidity.
-Friedrich Nietzsche, The Wanderer and his Shadow

All good socialists have villas in Southern France. That's not the point.
-Eurosocialist

I asked an airline mechanic buddy...appears I was dead wrong.