For what it's worth, I hate what we've created to address the terrorist threat in the skies. It's so inept it's laughable.

- We refuse to concentrate assets on the most likely suspects.

- We hire the least competent types of staff to "screen" out potential threats.

- We saddle both these staffers and the front-line troops (aircrews) with asinine regs. Like the man said, the Captain is the Captain of the whole airplane, not just the cockpit. My flight defense training culminated with a full-blown fist fight OUTSIDE the main cockpit door. It was pretty realistic, too. Even with all the padded gear, my left forearm was numb for two weeks after using it to ring the "assailant's" bell. I want to be packin' heat from before push to
after block in no matter what I'm doing in between.

- We put more effort into discouraging these last-line-of-defense individuals from carrying firearms than into making sure the defense is so massive it deters the threat (TSA wants the airborne struggle to be a fair fight. I don't believe in fair fights.)

- We engineer a gun holster that is so frickin' hard to put on and use that it makes the firearm more dangerous to the user than it does to the assailant.

I'm amazed MORE pistols haven't gone off while putting them on/taking them off.

Jeebus.

BTW, I'm 54 today.

Sh*t. ;)

Dusty/Attila of Argghhh!!!

*FFDO: Federal Flight Deck Officer