Airline Pilots Should not be Armed

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Recommended: Arming pilots is a good idea

After the events of September 11, nearly every American has thought about what it would be like to be on board an airline flight during a terrorist attack. We imagine ourselves on one of the hijacked planes and feel a surge of fear. The adrenaline rushes, the heart pounds, we go pale. If we allow the panic to escalate, we begin to feel desperate: Somebody do something! These understandable feelings of fear and desperation have moved people to argue that we should arm commercial airline pilots. Certainly it is reassuring to imagine pilots as our protectors, the last defense against crazed passengers bent on harm. Certainly we should take all reasonable measures to safeguard flights. However, is it really a good idea to let pilots act as gun-toting cowboys in the sky? When one considers the possible consequence of arming pilots, this policy does not seem at all prudent.

Commercial airline pilots should concentrate on flying the plane rather than acting out a fantasy that may well turn into a nightmare. A well-trained extremist could conceivably disarm a pilot. A terrorist could als...

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