Oh my goodness...

You mean like the Egypt air first office did a few years ago *without* a firearm?? (By crashing the airplane into the Atlantic). These people are at the controls of the airplane -- they can do as they wish, firearm or not!

This is another reason why you don't want the guys upfront to start blazing away. The issue of handling an armed standoff inside a narrow metal tube with a couple of hundred people in it is a fairly specialized skill when you get down to it--in the sense that it requires an ability to asses and react to a potentially dangerous situation with a large degree of quickness and accuracy. Imagine the fallout if somebody bum-rushed the flight deck, half the F cabin was busy administering the beat down, and one of those people administering said beat-down took a stray round..... Bad.

That ability is probably mutually exclusive to operating a transport-class aircraft, at least while in the approach/landing phase of flight (and probably departure). Climb-cruise might be another story, but I don't want the guys upfront who are driving my flights to have to try.

That said, the Airtran guy is dumb because he was on-duty, in uniform, and intoxicated. His status as an FFDO is just more fuel for the fire. In an abstract way it almost makes him stupid times two--carrying a loaded firearm while under the influence is not particularly bright; although I'm not convinced yet that it's quite as bad as getting ready to command a flight with 60+ onboard while plastered...

The pilots are not supposed to open the cockpit door, but if the door was breached then one pilot should fly the airplane while the other pilot should use the firearm in a last-ditch effort to keep control of the aircraft so that the airplane is not shot down by fighter jets.

Odds are overwhelming that the plane would be on autopilot, especially if flight crew heard something happening to the door. This idiot pilot merely violated two incredibly important, and relevant, laws, namely attempting to fly drunk and carrying a firearm while drunk.

You know, lots of people are pushing for this "approved flyer" status, where once you get approved, you can fly with minimal checking, harrassment, etc.

So, if this guy made the grade which a reasonable assumption, he would not even be checked because he was already determined to be SAFE?!

Hmmmmmm....