It's hard to miss someone coming through a narrow door a couple feet away.

If an FFDO did miss, I'd rather put a couple of missed shots in the forward lav or galley than let the plane hit a building and kill untold numbers (including me!).

FFDO's are trained to do the job. I was cop before and I've never fired my weapon on duty. FFDO's are just as ready to be in a "lethal force" situation as any LEO is. It's really kind of simple compared to street situations. Bad guy is trying to get in the cockpit and take the plane down; I'm going to stop him. I wish it was that easy as a LEO. There are hundreds of different situations on the ground and some of them are lose-lose situations.

I do agree there are some people/pilots who should never have a gun. I hope the FFDO screening takes care of that. I know there were lots of cops who shouldn't have them. I worked with them!

 

In my opinion, the only people that should be armed on airplanes are flight attendants and air marshals. The pilots are too busy flying the plane, and under a high stress situation like a hijacking, their main problem is controlling the plane and everyone who's in it. The flight attendants should be trained to deal with problems before they ever augment to the point that pilots should be armed.