[From USA Today Letters to the Editor]
http://www.PayPal.com/usatonline/20020722/4294849s.htm

Armed pilots will deter terrorists

As an airline pilot, I view with great concern the general public’s lack
of understanding regarding the arming of pilots who undergo supervised
firearms training (”Legislation to arm pilots passes House,” News, July
11).

Protecting the cockpit is the last stand passengers have if someone wants
to try to attack the pilots.

Oh, I stand corrected: A missile fired from an F-16 jet fighter is the
current solution for correcting a possible terrorist attack against an
airplane.

I would rather lose sleep at night because I took the life of a terrorist
than have my wife watch replay after replay on the news of the outcome.

If our airline pilots had been armed to start with, I’d like to think
that would have been a major deterrent on Sept. 11. At least, it might
have dissuaded some of the terrorists from bringing a knife or a box
cutter to a gunfight.

It is too late to change the past, but I’m sure that everyone who lost a
loved one during the Sept. 11 attacks would agree that we can still
change the present to prevent the loss of lives in the future.

Mitchell Bell
Fort Worth

Pilots: Best last line of defense

USA TODAY reader D.C. Bails-Forbes, a ”professional flight attendant,”
says that ”loading and handling a gun would interfere with a pilot’s
primary duty of safely landing the plane” (”Should we arm pilots? Ask
flight crews,” Letters, Wednesday).

That is a misinformed argument and I, as a pilot for a major airline,
would ask Bails-Forbes: Who is going to land the airplane if the flight
crew is dead?

The terrorists? The cabin crew?

I can assure the reader that if I’m fighting hand-to-hand with trained
killers, it’s going to be much tougher to land the aircraft safely.

I strongly disagree with the assertion that ”there are better weapons
options to consider.” In fact, the FBI position is that pilots trained
and equipped with firearms are an aircraft’s best last line of defense
(”Weapons in cockpit are good,” Letters, Wednesday).

Bails-Forbes is ”prepared to die protecting passengers.” That may be
fine, but I’m convinced that a terrorist who suspects a pilot might have
a gun is going to pick another target.

I appreciate that the cabin crew is the first line of defense. All I’m
asking is that I be allowed to be the last line of defense. Let me — not
an F-16 crew — decide where to put down the airplane.

Jim Preston
Colorado Springs, Colo.