The Strongest Union On Earth
March 30th 2008 13:53
This is an update about the US Airways pilot whose gun accidentally discharged in the cockpit on a flight from Denver to Charlotte. The union APSA, Airline Pilots Security Alliance, is blaming faulty rules for gun's firing!
If you don't understand what that idiotic statement means, it is basically saying that people don't kill people, guns kill people. It is shifting blame to rules rather than the carelessness of the pilot. Let's analyze this:
"The pilot has to take his gun off and lock it up before he leaves the cockpit, so he was trying to secure the gun in preparation for landing, while he was trying to fly the airplane, too," said David Mackett, president of the Airline Pilots Security Alliance. "In the process of doing that, the padlock that is required to be inserted into the holster pulled the trigger and caused the gun to discharge."
He was trying to secure the gun WHILE flying the plane????? Nothing wrong with that. Before he leaves the cockpit? If I'm not mistaken, crews are the last ones to leave the plane, thus giving him plenty of time to SAFELY secure the gun!
But it doesn't end there...
Rather than carry the weapon on their person at all times, pilots must lock it up before opening the cockpit door, meaning pilots handle the gun as many as 10 times per flight, the association estimates.
Again the cockpit door can stay closed for a couple of minutes after landing. This was just negligence on the pilot's part who has completed training to become federal flight deck officers (FFDOs). A padlock is inserted through the holster and trigger guard, but, if inserted backward, it can trigger the gun, pilots say.
The pilot has been trained as an FFDO, he was also requalified in November(from other aricle in different entry) and yet he still inserted the padlock backwards??? Something does smell rotten!
"It's a completely unsafe system unless it's used in a static environment — in a bedroom with good light. But to try to balance a gun on your lap and padlock it while flying an airplane 300 miles an hour, sometimes in the dark, is not secure," Mr. Mackett said.
He keeps proving the negligence of the pilot, but tries to justify it by proving his incompetance.
The guy from the Federal Air Marshal Service just reinstates the rules and say how they learn from them. He makes no comment about the pilot or this particular incident. Maybe the pilot doesn't need to be punished because it was an accident and nobody got hurt, but to find excuses and shift blame just sends the wrong message!
The old adage, Guns don't kill people, people kill people, would take on a new argument if it could be proven wrong.
If you don't understand what that idiotic statement means, it is basically saying that people don't kill people, guns kill people. It is shifting blame to rules rather than the carelessness of the pilot. Let's analyze this:
"The pilot has to take his gun off and lock it up before he leaves the cockpit, so he was trying to secure the gun in preparation for landing, while he was trying to fly the airplane, too," said David Mackett, president of the Airline Pilots Security Alliance. "In the process of doing that, the padlock that is required to be inserted into the holster pulled the trigger and caused the gun to discharge."
But it doesn't end there...
Rather than carry the weapon on their person at all times, pilots must lock it up before opening the cockpit door, meaning pilots handle the gun as many as 10 times per flight, the association estimates.
Again the cockpit door can stay closed for a couple of minutes after landing. This was just negligence on the pilot's part who has completed training to become federal flight deck officers (FFDOs). A padlock is inserted through the holster and trigger guard, but, if inserted backward, it can trigger the gun, pilots say.
"It's a completely unsafe system unless it's used in a static environment — in a bedroom with good light. But to try to balance a gun on your lap and padlock it while flying an airplane 300 miles an hour, sometimes in the dark, is not secure," Mr. Mackett said.
He keeps proving the negligence of the pilot, but tries to justify it by proving his incompetance.
The guy from the Federal Air Marshal Service just reinstates the rules and say how they learn from them. He makes no comment about the pilot or this particular incident. Maybe the pilot doesn't need to be punished because it was an accident and nobody got hurt, but to find excuses and shift blame just sends the wrong message!
The old adage, Guns don't kill people, people kill people, would take on a new argument if it could be proven wrong.
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