Arming Pilots Isn’t Realistic

I was on a two-day layover when tragedy struck Sept. 11. As a pilot, I knew when I saw on TV the plumes of smoke billowing from the World Trade Center that at least one outcome was certain: Aviation would never be the same.

What I’ve observed in the weeks since that day defies description, but it is certainly a level of hysteria I never thought I would see. Nothing takes the cake like the idea of arming us pilots.

At first glance, it may not seem too farfetched. After all, aren’t pilots responsible for the safety of their passengers? If we could arm someone on the plane, why not the pilot?

I’ll tell you why not:

* Pilots are in uniform. If pilots were armed, then hijackers would know where the guns are. We would be walking targets for anyone seeking to obtain a firearm inside airport security.

* Cockpits will never be completely inaccessible. Besides, for a pilot to use a gun to thwart a hijacking, the cockpit door first would have to be opened.

* Where would the guns be stored when pilots were off duty? Handling this problem would be costly and complex.

This is not to say that no one on a plane should be allowed to carry a loaded firearm. The president wants to drastically increase the number of air marshals. This will be costly, but we should not worry about cost when the consequences of a successful hijacking are so severe.

What we might be worried about is that, according to the FBI, in 1999 more than 12% of law enforcement officers feloniously killed with a firearm were killed with their own guns.

The thought of having an armed person on board each flight is still somewhat reassuring, but only if that person is deeply undercover. If the person were to find himself defending against armed attackers who had seized a gun from the cockpit, his advantage would be greatly diminished.

I also have been shot. To this day I believe that if I had been armed, it likely would not have prevented me from taking at least one bullet in a gunfight. Perhaps it is partly from that memory that I get chills thinking about a gun being drawn on board an airplane.

What long-lasting legacy would we like to see come of the Sept. 11 tragedy? I doubt many of us would answer: “more armed agents on airplanes.”