If there’s one thing that fires people up besides shirts with the F word on it, it’s guns.
At issue is whether or not pilots should be allowed to carry weapons in the cockpit. While it’s a definitive way to reinforce security at 30,000 feet, the presence of a firearm onboard increases the potential for accidents — and disaster.
That’s what happened last Saturday when a US Airways pilot’s gun accidentally went off in the cockpit during the flight. Nobody was injured and the aircraft landed safely, but wow, they were lucky.
Suppose that bullet went through the front window instead of somewhere into the fuselage. At that altitude could the pilots withstand explosive decompression? Would the entire cabin decompress and the pilots be killed?
According to the TSA, the pilot in question was trained under the Federal Flight Deck Officers program and last certified in November. Details are still sketchy on how the firearm was stored and what caused it to discharge in the cockpit, but I’m pretty sure that with the safety on and without a bullet in the chamber a weapon shouldn’t accidentally fire.
I suppose if it were up to me and on my flight, I would prefer the pilot to have a gun and thwart a terrorist at the small risk of having an accident. While flight deck doors are locked from the inside these days and any instigator would have a really difficult time getting access, the extra layer of security does supply a grain of comfort. I’m glad everyone was safe on the US Airways flight.