Planes, Guns and Pilots

A few days ago, CNN noted that the Feds are not allowing pilots to carry guns. Now, I’m a person fairly convinced that people should be able to have guns (and concealed ones, at that). My first instinct is to think “Damn, those pilots oughta have guns. That’d stop those stupid terrorists.” Then, of course, the logical side of my brain wakes up and says “Huh!?” Yeah… guns are great. They’re wonderful… here on the ground. I don’t think, however, that pilots should be armed with deadly weapons. Here’s why:

We have to assume that our airport security is sufficient to prevent would-be terrorists from bringing firearms onboard the plane. If it’s not, we can give pilots all the weaponry we want and it won’t make a bit of difference. That assumption having been made, it stands to reason that the only way a would be terrorist is going to get his/her hands on a gun is to take it from someone who has one on board legally. Federal Air Marshals are (AFAIK) armed. Barring some sort of intelligence leak, persons on board and looking for a gun from a FAM are going to have to do a lot of looking. However, if pilots have guns, you always know where you can find one. Guns in the cockpit are just a bad idea… but even if they were a good idea, I have a better one.

Granted, this isn’t my original idea… I read it somewhere… I think some countries actually use it. Tell me, why do the pilots need access to the passenger cabin? They don’t. Short of bathroom breaks, I’ve never seen a pilot wandering the plane. Chances are, if I had, I’d probably would have rather had him… ummm… flying the plane! So the solution seems straight forward (but potentially very very expensive).

There should be NO PHYSICAL ACCESS from the cabin to the cockpit or vice-versa. I don’t mean “Ooh… lock the door” I mean TAKE. THE. DOOR. OUT. Put in a big solid wall. It should be bullet-proof. It should be more capable of handling an explosion than the shell of the plane. (In other words, in order to blow down the door, you’d have to take the top off of the plane). Problem solved, right? Hardly.

More than just removing physical access, you have to limit cabin to cockpit communication to the BARE MINIMUM. What is the bare minimum? A flight attendant can push a button that tells there is an emergency in the cabin and that the pilot should land the plane immediately. Nothing more. It’s kinda hard to use hostages if the person you’re trying to influence doesn’t know you have hostages, isn’t it? This means that the big wall ought to be soundproof as well. Additionally, it should be as close to impossible as possible (hehe) that communication frequencies into the cockpit (from the tower, for example) could be compromised. Of course, the pilot should be able to communicate freely with the cabin… lord knows his co-pilot certainly doesn’t want to be the only one to endure his corny jokes.

If these things are done, a plane hijacking would be extremely highly improbable. Some might say that we thought that before 9/11 as well, but I don’t agree. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve flown with exact-o knives in my carry-on. Not intentionally, mind you, just because that was a standard office supply that I carried in my bag. It was NEVER looked at or questioned. Not even once. I’ll save my rant about that for another day, however.

On second thought… if we follow the above steps, let the pilots carry as many guns as they want… what difference will it make then??