Posted on 03/24/2008 12:39:21 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
A US Airways pilot accidentally discharged his gun in the cockpit during a flight from Denver to Charlotte, N.C., according to the Transportation Safety Administration.
The Airbus A319 landed safely after the incident Saturday and without any injuries to the 124 passengers on board, a spokesperson for the TSA told ABCNEWS.com today.
The TSA said the passengers were unaware that a gun had been fired in the cockpit.
The pilot, who both the TSA and US Airways declined to identify, was a member of the Federal Flight Deck Officer program, an initiative put in place after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The initiative allows authorized members of cockpit crews to carry weapons on board.
"There are thousands of federal flight deck officers and this has never happened before," said the spokesperson. "This was probably a bit of a fluke."
The Federal Flight Deck Officer program provides training to eligible crew members on the use of firearms, use of force, legal issues, defensive tactics, the psychology of survival and program standard operating procedures, according to TSA's Web site.
Flight deck officers must requalify for the program twice a year; the pilot involved in Saturday's incident requalified in November 2007.
The gun went off in the plane's cockpit but spokespeople for both US Airways and TSA declined to comment on the position of the weapon when it was discharged, citing an ongoing investigation. The TSA also declined to say what the bullet struck.
"Federal flight deck officers are authorized and trained to carry their firearms on their person inside the flight deck of an aircraft," said the TSA spokesperson.
The weapon used by the officers are H&K 40-caliber semiautomatics.
As for the pilot's future employment with US Airways, the spokesperson for the airline told ABCNEWS.com that it's against company policy to divulge any information about the employee.
The US Airways aircraft has been grounded since the incident, pending the investigation.
The pilot is supposed to keep the gun in the holster at all times. Then, it won’t go BOOM.
Playing “show and tell” in the cockpit is dangerous.
Yeah, I think that was proven in one of the Lethal Weapon movies.
Too bad we’ll never hear the “rest of the story”. I wonder if the co-pilot was in the cockpit at the time. And there are a number of critical things in the cockpit that might not withstand a direct hit. There’s redundancy all over the electronics of these planes, but what about things like the throttle?
My sister carries a Glock and all you have to do is breathe on it to make it go off. A neighbor of ours and retired police officer shot his television with his. He said all he did was pick it up. My husband traded for one and was afraid to sell it so he eventually sold it to a police officer as a personal gun, very cheap. I’m afraid of them.
Did you see this yet? I’m betting he was overcome by the urge to “show and tell”. :-) Even so, there’s NO EXCUSE for an AD...especially in a cockpit! Sheesh...I’ll bet that was loud!
Your sister carries a glock?
Wow. I bet no moose ever tried to bite her!
Ya think?
Yep those Glocks just go off by themselves all the time..
BANG..there goes one now. Must be the neighbor next store.
BANG..there goes another one, must be the guy across the street. I heard he had a cold he must have sneezed on his.
BANG..there goes mine. Must be those darn sunspots. I hate it when that happens.
Your neighbor forgot to tell you he pulled the trigger.
I have owned several Glocks in my life, I have accidentally dropped my loaded Glock 23 twice in the last 20 years, it never discharged.
There is only one way a Glock discharges by pulling the trigger, unless is in need of repair, send it to Glock for repairs.
Yep. I don't know if she has her Glock in this picture or not because I can't tell. Nobody messes with her. I carry a .357 Magnum revolver with a 2" barrel but it's not a Glock.
My sister.
I have several Glocks, and I like them.
But Glocks are more prone to AD by untrained operators. No question. To suggest otherwise is to ignore reality.
An external safety decocker helps if one commits the mortal sin of pulling the trigger without being on target. I know some experienced shooters who hate Glocks for this reason.
It just amazes me that people accidentally discharge a firearm. Short of a mechanical malfunction of course.
Cool!
I bet tiger-one and skyman are sorry now they “gave you the business”!
lolol
Actually that's not true. Friends don't let friends use Fobus.
:-). That could be I suppose. He didn’t say he dropped it. He said he picked it up and it went off. He probably hit the trigger by mistake. I’ve only personally been around two, my sister’s and the one my husband traded for. He said the trigger pull on his was so light that it made him very nervous so he got rid of it. He prefers his 9mm Ruger. My sister does OK with hers because she practices with it all the time but she will be the first to tell you that the trigger is too light for most people. I prefer a stronger trigger pull myself.
Must...resist...off color comment. :-)
Your sister is cool. Carries a Glock, and firing the shotgun with a 1911 strapped to her side.
No wonder no one messes with her. ;-)
lol...
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