Originally Posted by
halls120
You are assuming the only thing pilots can do is use their firearms if they carry. Interesting but faulty assumption.
The only other weapon of note is the ax, which is a bit unwieldy in CQC. Hand to hand against a knife is mostly a myth unless the person has a lot of training, the willingness and ability to kill (don't screw around - take the hit and close in and kill the guy. You're going to get stabbed, the only question is how many times) and the physical ability to do so.
Now that merchant vessels with armed security forces on board are entering foreign ports - and the world hasn't come to an end - perhaps we can start talking about letting FFDO's carry on international flights.
That's not a US decision. It's up to the foreign country in question. Most won't go for it since they don't recognize FFDOs as LEOs.