Quote:
Originally Posted by Bender
Now this is just me speaking... 
I am a commercial pilot and I spent 20 years in the military as well, 15 of those years was as a UH-60 pilot. I also flew armed. As a pilot I would be more concerned about getting the aircraft on the ground than trying to fight some one off. I would rather have my crew (flight attendant, air marshall) fight off the attacker while I am putting the aircraft on the ground. As we used to say in the Army when in an emergency "Fly the Aircraft."
Thats just me and I am just a helicopter pilot... we are different than those civilian commercial airline pilots so we think differently. |
Well I am a commercial pilot as well, after being a Navy Pilot, so from that perspective, I believe that you do think differently. From experience, we now know that it's difficult to put the aircraft on the ground (in one piece) after your throat has been cut. Priority number one is to neutralize the threat. Then you have the option to concentrate fully on flying the aircraft. Not to sound too abrasive, but one of my Navy colleagues was on the first aircraft into the World Trade Center. Getting the aircraft on the ground and then fighting off the attacker didn't work too well for him.