An Apology
I’ve been bad-mouthing the US Air pilot for incompetent weapons handling, and it turns out the problem may lie in TSA procedures [I know, I was stunned to read that, too. 😈 ]
The Charlotte Observer follows up on the weapons case
Other details released Thursday also indicate that the gun’s holster is being investigated in the shooting. Some pilots have criticized the locking holster system for the Heckler & Koch USP pistol as inappropriate for the program that arms pilots. Transportation Security Administration procedures require a pilot to transfer the gun and holster from his flight bag to his belt multiple times during a flight, pilots said in interviews.
The holster system is designed with a lock that goes behind the trigger, preventing the gun from firing. But some pilots say that when the gun isn’t snapped tightly into the holster, or becomes loose during transfers, the lock can end up in front of the trigger.
David Mackett, a pilot who is president of the Airline Pilots Security Alliance, said he supports the arming of pilots. But he said the combination of the current gun-and-holster system and the requirement that pilots frequently remove the gun when not in the cockpit is “just a recipe for disaster.”
A little bit of searching and I located other people who have been kvetching about this since the program was implemented.
The strength of the HK USP is the safety of the weapon. There are a lot of other .40 caliber auto-loading pistols on the market, but the HK has a great system designed in to prevent accidents. The system is by-passed when you start sticking metal rods through the trigger guard. This is a stupid system, and the only surprise is that there hasn’t been an accident earlier.
6 comments
Transportation Security Administration procedures require a pilot to transfer the gun and holster from his flight bag to his belt multiple times during a flight?!?!
when do we start calling them the transportation stupidity association? because this has got to be one of the stupider things i’ve ever heard of anybody purposely doing with a loaded gun.
i’m opposed to the whole idea, but if we’re going to do this, we need to just expand the sky marshals program. loaded guns on planes ought to be in the custody of people whose sole responsibility is that gun. i realize planes can fly themselves to some extent, but i’d rather the pilot focus on flying the plane, instead of on shooting [or trying not to shoot] a gun.
The busiest times, and the critical times, when flying an aircraft are take-offs and landings. Those are times when the TSA has scheduled messing about with the gun.
In the military you stow all the gear and are ready for landing at the beginning of descent because that is the point at which things can get “interesting”.
The rules and procedures make as much sense as stealing pudding from people, which is to say, none at all.
tsa = terrorism society of america? do they want us to start shooting our own planes down out of the sky now? sheesh.
otoh, it’s not clear [not to me at least, but maybe i missed something] whether the procedure is stupid for requiring the pilot to be stowing his gun during descent, or whether the pilot slipped up and didn’t follow procedure. i’m really curious about a couple of those blacked out sections in the police report.
after reading the precautionary tale of the pudding incident, i went out shopping for travel food with that [and the tsa’s 3 oz limit] in mind, especially since i’ve relied on those little packages of pudding [and applesauce] in the past. the only thing i found: you can get yogurt-for-kids in 3.1 oz containers. i was sorely tempted to buy some, just to see if they’d be confiscated for being over the limit.
What surprises me is that airport catering isn’t supplying more in 3 oz containers. The greed isn’t as effective as it once was.
Any procedure that requires putting a metal rod inside the trigger guard is stupid, and any holster design that leaves the trigger exposed is asking for trouble.
I’m sorry but once you get the TSA involved you get problems. I know quite a few folk that work for the TSA and they can tell you that the whole operation is what, from my Navy days, was referred to as a “Chinese gang bang” no disrespect for the Chinese intended. If the TSA procedure calls for the pilot to move the pistol or remove it from it’s holster during flight there will be incidents. Murphy defined it and it is as true as anything can be.
I carried a weapon on my person for most of two decades. In the military I had classified materials that I had to transport, and then in law enforcement.
You put the sucker on in the morning and took it off at night. When it wasn’t on your person, you secured it, because you had to account for the weapon and ammunition.
I flew wearing a sidearm. I would no more have considered messing with it while in the air, than messing with an aircraft exit.
If pilots are going to have them, they should be put on in a secure area at the departing airport, and taken off in a secure area of the next airport.