UALOneKPlus, for the most part I was not pointing at any one person as being antigun. I do have many questions about how this will work and whether it can work effectively within whatever rules are created. I still am not sure about your analogy about pilots going postal. It has happened before without firearms in the cockpit and if you don't think that guns are inherently evil then I do not see why it should cause any increase in risk. Again pilots have caused mass murder during suicide already without a gun being involved. It actually seems that the easiest way to commit suicide is to just wait for the other pilot to leave since with the new secured doors will not even allow anyone to get back in. this is different from the egypt air situation.

I am not an explosives expert either but have studied the theory beyond terrorist use of them. The public has already experienced the impact of bombs going of in checked luggage. As I said above, it has already happened several times before and has not caused longterm impact. You are basically right about terrorist psychology though. they will strike at spots that allow the best chance of success balanced against the impact and chance of success. So the true response would be to keep picking new spots and that would mean non aircraft. The report from germany today is a potential bombing of a military instillation. The naive thought is that terrorists would not have been blowing up airplanes constantly since even before pan am if they could have. The terrorists need to maximise the disruption to western society with its somewhat limited resources. It would be irresponsible to waste precious resources on very risky ops.

That said, airtraffic is unique in that by disrupting it the terrorists hope to isolate the west and reduce its influence in moslem culture. So I agree that we might see some bombings, missile attacks or assaults on airports like Rome or a bigger version of LA. I am more worried about a bomb being placed not through checked luggage but by being placed by a terrorist associate in a foreign country.

Actually that is an additional reason that domestic luggage has not been checked as often. The skill to build this type of bomb and the ability to prep it prior to use would most likely require the organization to send a top expert to the US. It is possible that they would do that, but it would again be very risky compared to other possible options to disrupt the west that the terrorists have available.

Finally the only reason to do this is not to make the pilots police. It will be a stupendous failure if the pilots are prepped to do anything but defend the cockpit and get the plane on the ground. I am sorry but I must disagree that there is any other item out there that is less than lethal that will provide final point defense of the cabin. If someone tries to attack the cockpit there should be no thought to subdue the attackers. Tasers are not suited for multiple attackers and are impractical in closed confines or against multiple attackers. Police do not train to use them in confined spaces such as cells or transport vehicles because of this. Police are supposed to use lethal force to defend themselves and others and after 9-11, I would think that this is one case in which there is no doubt about any attack being a serious threat to many people.


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Robert