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« Park & FWS proposed rules for firearm carry | Main | Unusual 911 call »

TSA and arming pilots

Posted by David Hardy · 29 April 2008 09:18 PM

TSA's history on the issue has been a classic of passive-aggressive behavior (agreeing, then sabotaging). Annie Jacobson has the latest over at Pajamas Media. They're using a psych test that disqualifies many pilots. Among other things, if you say you'd like to become a fighter pilot, it counts against you, as proof you are too hotheaded to be trusted with a firearm.

12 Comments | Leave a comment

straightarrow | April 30, 2008 12:16 AM | Reply

fighter pilot? Hell if you have any testosterone they will try to disqualify you. I you have estrogen, but are self-reliant same damn thing.

Tom | April 30, 2008 4:41 AM | Reply

We can trust a pilot to fly a plane and have direct control of hundreds of lives, but can't trust this same pilot to carry a firearm in the process. This makes about as much sense as me telling the wife I can't go to work today because I may get killed in an auto accident alone the way. TSA needs to be reworked, this organization is unfit to for the job at hand.

Letalis Maximus, Esq. | April 30, 2008 5:29 AM | Reply

The TSA is a government agency. Government agencies have two products, and two products only: process and delay.

JT | April 30, 2008 7:29 AM | Reply

"There is no official recourse or review for a pilot who’s failed a TSA psyche test. The pilot can’t even find out why he failed; the agency considers the results of its psychological testing to be classified."

Decisions made @ the discretion of the issuing authority, who is completely unaccountable for those decisions? Yep, sounds like FFDO is "may issue". Typical.

Mike M. | April 30, 2008 7:36 AM | Reply

I maintain that the whole idea of a FDO is nonsense. The pilot in command is Captain. His authority is absolute...as established in Admiralty Law for about 400 years.

Any attempt to interfere with a pilot in command arming himself therefore constitutes an attempt to Abet Mutiny, and arguably Rebellion.

The only real question is whether or not the Captain may inflict summary justice while on the ground, or must remand the offender to a court.

JKB | April 30, 2008 10:03 AM | Reply

Mike M.

Nice try but no cigar. Admiralty law's roots goes back thousands of years with a good portion of today's law directly attributable to the Middle Ages.

Flag nations are permitted to establish the rules under which vessels under their flag must operate. Port nations may establish rules for vessels entering their waters/airspace.

Captains only have authority in international waters. Even then such power is limited in this day and time due to the ease of consultation with flag state authorities. Upon arrival in port, they must surrender the offender to their flag state authorities, be that either the local magistrate or the local consulate depending on whether the port is in their flag state or not.

Biggest rub is that all private vessels that enter a nation are subject to the laws of that nation, with international conventions used to mediate differing flag state rules. Exception being sovereign vessels (government owned/operated) which retain sovereign status for internal matters. They can however be refused entry or directed to leave local waters/airspace.

Windy Wilson | April 30, 2008 11:03 AM | Reply

Where is it written that fighter pilots are hot headed? That conclusion seems like it was made up pseudo-science. I think that what is needed is split-second analysis not split-second reaction (cf 40 second John Boyd and the OODA Loop).
The only fighter pilot I ever knew personally was my accounting professor who was so mild-mannered we thought he was asleep most of the time.

The Mechanic | April 30, 2008 1:29 PM | Reply

More proof we're in the last days. The pilots are the best of the best being judged by the worst of the worst. Federal employees' unions. affirmative action hires. psychologists being taken seriously.
Does this secret test with secret parameters make one unfit to purchase or perjure oneself on Form 4473? Where is President Out-To-Lunch on all this?

This fits The Mechanic's ductum which is the foundation of all policy: Men are never to exercise authority over Women. White people are never to exercise authority over non white people.
citizens are never to exercise authority over non citizens. Breaches of any of the above constitute a hate crime(s). Thinking outside that box is a thought crime.

jon | April 30, 2008 2:42 PM | Reply

"Where is it written that fighter pilots are hot headed?"

probably in the screenplay for "top gun."

JKB | April 30, 2008 9:46 PM | Reply

"Where is it written that fighter pilots are hot headed?"

Nah, I think it was "Officer and a Gentleman" Richard Gere was far more conflicted than Tom Cruise.

But of course fighter pilots are hotheads, that's why we give them missiles and machine guns. Nothing says you're unstable like giving a man or woman a few hundred million dollars worth of jet engine with guns and explosives strapped on for good measure.

Gregg | May 1, 2008 1:04 AM | Reply

Actually it's the missileers who are unstable. I have yet to meet someone who has spent any time in missile command and time in a silo who is not unstable as hell. Not sure if the proximity to the nukes does it or if they were unstable in the first place. Admittedly the ones I knew prior to going into the pit were seriously unstable in the first place.

wrangler5 | May 1, 2008 11:33 PM | Reply

When you reeeeeally don't want to do something, any excuse will do.

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