Pros And Cons Of Arming Pilots

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Arming pilots could have saved thousands of lives in our nation's history. After much research there are many pros and cons of this debate. Armed pilots would have more responsibilities by the fact of just carrying a gun, but people never know what could go wrong. 2,977 lives were lost on 9/11. Had the pilots been armed the loss of innocent lives may have been prevented. The events of 9/11 and other situations like 9/11, have caused much debate whether or not pilots should be armed. That incident in itself has caused some airlines to hire armed air marshals. On September 11, 2001 four planes were hijacked. Two of the planes were flown into the world trade center. A third plane hit the pentagon just outside of Washington, D.C. The fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania.The planes were hijacked by an islamic extremist group called Al-Qaeda. More than 400 police officers and firefighters died during this massive tragedy. Some people believe this could have been …show more content…

Most of these cases were hijackers wanting to get to Cuba. In 1969 the FFA created a anti-hijacking task force to stop these diversions to Cuba. Concerned citizens flooded them with letters with recommendations of ways to deter the hijackers. Some were installing trap doors outside of the cockpit and Arming stewardesses with tranquilizer darts. As hijackers got more and more daring The FBI began to use violence to bring the problem under control. Snipers were positioned around the airplanes and agents dressed as relief pilots were armed on board. At this point in time airport security was minimal. Less than 1 percent of passengers were screened with a metal detector. The ticket agents were the only people to decide who got searched. They began to screen all passengers on January 5th 1973. Most travelers didn't seem to mind. while these steps have obviously deterred some hijackings, what more would arming pilots

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