All sorts of things can happen Wayne. The chair your sitting in can get struck by lightning and so on. The fact is there is a MUCH better chance of a terrorist getting into the cockpit and taking over the plane than there is in a pilot going nuts, especially one in the program.
I have to word this VERY carefully, so bear with me. Any pilot who carries a gun is strictly forbidden to reveal that he or she is in the program. That being said, I now a little bit about this subject. Pilots who are authorized to get into this program are subject to very thorough background checks, and also to psychiatric screening. There is virtually no chance that a pilot in the program is going to go crazy, they've been analyzed, checked out every which way to Sunday, and gone through extensive training.
My question, when people express their very understandable reservations about the program, is:
Knowing what we know now, how many passengers and crew on the four planes lost on 9/11 would like to have the pilots armed if they could have a re- do on that days events? I'd bet if you were on one of those planes, you would too!
As I said earlier, this isn't so simple. Most people don't realize the vast level of screening and training these guys go through. They're not exactly handing out guns in the lunchroom. Trust me, you WANT these guys on your plane. As Martha Stewart says, "That's a GOOD thing."
