Oopsie
Good thing it wasn’t a 50 caliber or it would have killed everyone on the plane!
Apparently, a pilot had a negligent discharge on a plane (the press uses words like accidental and the gun went off, both phrases that have roughly a 99.1%* chance of being utter bullshit). PGP has more. I think initial reports were that this was an Air Marshal’s weapon. Now, most places say it was the pilot.
* note: when making up statistics, I’ve found adding one decimal place makes them more believable. Adding 2 decimal points just makes you look all preachy up your own ass. But, seriously, it’s very uncommon for a weapon to just go off. To just go off requires mechanical failure that simply isn’t seen often enough in modern handguns. Well, unless the discharged involved someone in a uniform and then it happens all the time! Amazing. Hmmm, I wonder if one could, since we’re making up stats, run an R2 on discharges near uniforms. It’s official: the note is now longer than the post. That was fun. Made you look. But seriously, accident my ass.
Update: R. Neal: how much you want to bet it was a Glock? Well, we’ve all heard of Glock Leg. I guess this could be Glock Plane. But Glock Leg is 100% caused by failure to keep your booger-hook off the bang-switch.
Update 2: In commments, Tam says:
If it was an FDO it was an HK, not a Glock.
You don’t get to tote whatever you want on the flight deck. You get to carry an HK with the LEM trigger. (In other words, a light double action with no manual safety.)
March 25th, 2008 at 9:17 am
When pilots started carrying firearms again, they didn’t actually get the right to bear arms back. They had to pass some goverment approval thingy and were issued firearms. (I’m too lazy to google, but that’s what I recall)
So pilot and Air Marshal might both be technically correct.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:26 am
glock leg? gee never heard of 1911 leg or we might not have won WWII.
March 25th, 2008 at 10:30 am
If it was an FDO it was an HK, not a Glock.
You don’t get to tote whatever you want on the flight deck. You get to carry an HK with the LEM trigger. (In other words, a light double action with no manual safety.)
March 25th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Amazingly, the entire plane did not spontaneously explode from a half-inch hole.
March 25th, 2008 at 11:53 am
You may be interested in another view/background info here:
Gun Accident in Airline Cockpit was TSA Engineered!
http://www.crimefilenews.com/2008/03/gun-accident-in-airliner-cockpit-was.html
TSA Arrogance Threatens Safety Of Air Travelers-Classified Information
http://www.crimefilenews.com/2007/12/tsa-arrogance-threatens-safety-of-air.html
Having a stupid system to lock up a gun does not relieve the pilot from the responsibility of NOT putting his finger on the trigger unless he has a terrorist forehead against the muzzle, but adding complexity to the process with trigger locks, boxes, taking in-and-out, just adds more opportunities to fail. The pistol should be in holster on the pilot, and it should stay there from the time he puts it on well before the flight until he takes it off, well after the flight.
elb
p.s. Trivia note: Huebl notes that pilots are have been issued both Sigs and HKs.
March 25th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Oop. I responded to this post in my blog post aggregator before realizing there is a later post with a quote from Huebl. Dang.