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Donnie Corson
Dr. Amy Lynch-Biniek
English 023: College Composition
25 November 2014
Cover Letter
Arm Your Pilots
In the process of creating this research project, my goal was to target the owners of
airline companies that do not permit their pilots to carry guns on the job. In doing so, I found a
way to appeal to them by including references to past events such as September 11th, 2001, all
the way up to the current statuses of airplane security. Thus, my intent was to inform the
audience of the benefits that come from arming their pilots and why they should do so. I also
provided ample information that introduced the alternatives to arming pilots that have been
proposed by opposing parties. However, my paper contains reasoning as to why arming airline
pilots is the best option.
In my final draft, one of my biggest strengths is taking a quote from a source and
presenting it to the reader in a way that convinces them to agree with me. On the contrary, my
essay is far from perfect. I feel as though I could have found more sources to include in my
essay. I also think that my thoughts, ideas, and concepts that I attempt to introduce to the reader
are very unorganized. I found my one-on-one conferences with Dr. Amy Lynch-Biniek to be
very helpful in helping me develop my thoughts on this issue. For example; she had analyzed
one of my rough drafts found something that was hurting my goal instead of benefitting it. She
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had recommended that I rewrite the first section of my essay where I tell a story from a
passenger’s point of view and alter it to an airline company owner’s point of view.
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Donnie Corson
Dr. Amy Lynch-Biniek
English 023: College Composition
25 November 2014
Arm Your Pilots
As passengers sit down in your commercial airplane in its semi-comfortable seat and
squeeze their legs into the small area of the plane that they paid a lot of money for, the first thing
that passengers think of is how long it will take for your airplane to land at its destination. The
flight attendants assist all of the passengers on the plane to their seats and time seems to drag on.
All they want to do is take a nap and hopefully wake up at their destination. Looking out the
window, observing the long wings and watching the airport workers scramble to get luggage
aboard your plane, causes time to pass by until a flight attendant speaking on the loud speaker is
heard. As she asks everyone to direct their attention to another flight attendant in the middle of
the aisle, everyone rolls their eyes and sighs because all she’s doing is demonstrating all of those
”stupid” procedures that no one is going to need to perform anyway.
Then the pilot comes on the speaker and interrupts the passengers’ conversations. They
immediately judge the pilot by the sound of his voice; he’s sort of quiet but talks really well so
he must well educated and responsible. Then they take a quick second to sit back and come to
the realization that their lives are in the hands of this hopefully “responsible” man. But hey, it’s
not everyone’s first time being on a commercial flight, so why overthink it, right? So they just
ease their minds and lean their heads back just enough so their neck pillow supports it. Trying to
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get in to a conversation with the people in the seats next to them, the passengers face their heads
towards the window, put their headphones in, and doze off.
Once the door on that airplane closes and the engines are started, all of those innocent
passengers onboard that plane leave their lives in the hands of not only the skill sets of the pilots,
but also you. Even though you could be sitting in an office somewhere over a thousand miles
away from where that plane is departing from, everything that flight undergoes is on your
shoulders. Because you own the airline company, every pilot you hire, every plane you buy, and
every safety measure you enforce, decides the fate of those onboard your planes.
But at the same time, you’re an airline company owner; the company and its success rely
on you and the decisions you make. This is how you make your living and provide for your
family; you need to make your company succeed in every way possible. With that being said, it
can’t be easy running a company like yours in the constantly changing and evolving industry that
you’re in. With all of the moving parts, from ordering airplanes to hiring qualified pilots, it must
be hard to focus on keeping a strong reputation while attempting to maximize profits.
On the bright side, there is a solution to both improving the safety of the customers of
your airline and improving your company’s overall reputation; arming your pilots. The term
”arming” in this phrase means providing your pilots with concealed handguns while they are in
the cockpit of your planes. There are numerous reasons why you should provide your pilots with
the ability to undergo firearm training and carry a gun when on the job. Simultaneously, there are
also other proposed options to increase the safety.
According to the article “Arming Airline Pilots Appears to Be Lesser of Two Dangers”
by Thomas Sowell, Sowell mentions having “armed federal marshals” and “stronger cockpit
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doors” as different options that are praised by the opposition. But both of these ideas seem to be
less effective and reliable than arming the pilots. In fact, the number of employed and trained air
marshals that are capable of flying onboard commercial airplanes unidentified is significantly
lower than the actual number of flights that there are per day (Para 7-8).
He also goes on to say that, because of the low number of air marshals; they are
technically “hypothetical” because of their rarity among flights. How about enhancing the
strength and security of “cockpit doors”? Sowell also puts that idea to shame by stating their
terrorists are simply destructible, and if they want to break through a door, they will find a way
no matter the circumstances (Para 7-8).
An apparent and very realistic threat when it comes to commercial airlines is a terrorist
attack. There have been many fatal events in the past that consist of the hijacking of a
commercial airplane and causing it to crash and prove a political point. For example, as you
know, the events of September 11th 2001 exemplify how realistic the threat is. The attacks were
so fatal because of the way they were carried out; by terrorists hijacking large commercial planes
like yours. According to the article “9/11: Voices from the Doomed Planes” by Philip Sherwell,
the weapons that were used by the terrorists were mace and knives. They used those weapons as
well as a bomb threat to keep everyone remained seated. A direct quote from one of the terrorists
onboard United Airlines Flight 93 is; "Ladies and gentlemen. Here's the captain, please sit down,
keep remaining sitting. We have a bomb on board. So sit"(Sherwell 1).
The safety precautions and technologies used by airport security as well as onboard
airplane security have improved dramatically since that horrifying day, however. Technologies
like screening, surveillance, and stronger cockpit doors have been adopted by the Transportation
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Security Administration (Sowell 1). However, there is always the assumed risk of terrorism
when it comes to commercial airplanes even with all of the current technologies in airports and
onboard planes. Thomas Sowell states in his article “The main reason for having guns for selfdefense anywhere is deterrence”. This statement coincides with increasing the ability to prevent
terrorism and hijackings. Deterrence can absolutely be caused upon anyone who plans to take
control of an airplane if the two people in the cockpit are carrying guns. Even if people do try to
launch an attack they will either choose to stop or someone else will make them. (Sowell Para 46).
When armed terrorists are onboard a commercial airplane, they will do everything they
can to complete their sought-after missions; it’s what they’re trained to do. In fact, history has
proven that they are willing to risk their own lives to do so. The moment that they start to initiate
their plans, how can they be stopped? Who will be relied upon to save the lives of everyone on
the plane as well as on the ground below it? It is not like anyone on board could call 911 or
expect someone outside of the plane to save them.
There are countless acts of terrorism that have been used by terrorists to prove a point. A
terrorist can be a person of any race, gender, age, and ethnic background that has made a goal,
for some particular reason, to perform an act of terrorism. With that being said, airplanes have
become a prime choice of weapon for terrorists who want to cause massive and unexpected
destruction on any target. They essentially become large missiles that are filled with hundreds of
gallons of fuel and travel at remarkable speeds. Also, because terrorists are often willing to risk
their own lives, commercial airplanes are perfect for steering and flying into designated targets.
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A recording of one of the terrorists’ voices saying the quote mentioned as well as others
was recorded because they were in the cockpit of the commercial airplane talking into the loud
speaker to the passengers. However, this flight was the only hijacked flight to not crash into its
pre-designated target. It instead crashed into an empty field because the passengers onboard were
revolting. But in the end, it still crashed and killed numerous innocent who risked their lives to
save some on the ground. But why did the situation have to get to the point of no return for the
passengers? Why did they have to rely on themselves to stop the terrorists?
The last line of defense for such horrible situations should be the pilots and co-pilots in
the cockpits. They provide an additional sense of security and safety for all of the passengers
while simultaneously causing terrorists to second-guess themselves. Just imagine what could
have been done or what never would have happened if there were firearms in the cockpit on
September 11, 2001. If the terrorists are aware of there being armed pilots in the cockpit, then
maybe they’ll deter from attempting their mission. At the same time, if passengers know their
pilots are armed, then they wouldn’t have to panic because they feel helpless and hopeless. When
push comes to shove, the main goal of terrorist’s onboard commercial airplanes is to enter the
cockpit and gain control of the aircraft.
In the article “On Board The Spin Machine” by Mark Murray, Senator Conrad Burns, an
advocate for the arming of pilots, says that “we place our lives in the hands of pilots every time
we board a flight, so it only makes sense that we provide them with the tools and options they
need to safely and effective do their job”. Representative Don Young, who is also “a chairman of
the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee”, said he strongly believes that “under
these new circumstances, we must allow trained and qualified pilots to serve as the last line of
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defense against such a potential disaster" (Page 1). Both Senator Burns and Representative
Young are on the frontlines of this issue and its legalities.
Throughout the article “Airline Pilots: ‘Arm Us and They Will Come’” by William B.
Scott, Scott interviews several pilots from various different airline companies, most of which
were supportive of the training and arming of pilots (Scott Para 1). In the end, who are the people
that you should ask opinions from first? Your pilots are in fact the ones that would know what’s
best for the safety of your customers. According to the article, there are “more than 5,000
petitions demanding that airline pilots be allowed to carry guns” (Scott Para 1). Passengers as
well as pilots whom are employed by you and work for you strongly support firearms in the
cockpits mainly for the reason of extra protection and prevention against terrorist attacks.
However, the majority of the pilots interviewed in this article asked to remain anonymous
because of the fear of being fired for going against their airlines’ policies. If the majority of
airline pilots support arming, then why aren’t airline companies like you listening to what they
have to say?
A former U.S. Marine Corps pilot and special agent and pilot for the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, named Robert J. Guida, states that "Executives just haven't connected the dots yet,
if one airline stepped out and said, `We're arming our pilots--volunteers that are competent and
trained to be armed--because we want you to have the safest flight possible ... it would have
more passengers than it could handle." Also, an Airline Pilots Association survey stated that
“spanning all sex and age groups showed 75% supported arming pilots. Respondents perceived
the issue as one of safety, not gun control” (Scott Para 16-17).
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Simultaneously, major Airline pilots associations like the Air Line Pilots Association and
the Allied Pilots Association also are supportive of armed pilots Other advocates for it include
the Grassroots Campaign and the Armed Pilots Program. But why should you care about what
these organizations have to say? Why should you listen to them? Because in the Armed Pilots
Program alone, 5,000 national airline pilots in the first two months following the 9/11 attacks.
Since then, the number continues to increase (Scott Para 4-9).
With that being said, it is obvious that there are large numbers of active pilots who
support the allowance and permission to carry guns in the cockpit. Thus, what if some of your
pilots are in those organizations too and advocate the arming pilots? Are you going to listen to
their ideas and implement what they want? If you disagree with them but another airline
company doesn’t, who’s to say that your pilots won’t quit your company and go work for them?
According to the article “Pilots in Showdown at 'Guns Not Ok' Corral” by Frances
Fiorino, from the magazine Aviation Week &Space Technology, one major concern regarding
giving pilots guns is the effects of a misfire, which could result in a stray bullet hitting an
innocent passenger or pierce a hole in the cabin of the plane and cause depressurization.
However, The Pilot Union said “any concerns about stray bullets causing depressurization are
‘irrelevant’—when the alternative is losing an aircraft and all on board to suicidal hijackers”
(Fiorino Para 7).
Arming your airline pilots with firearms will boost your reputation for providing
maximum safety flights and will also benefit your company financially. Thus, the number of
passengers whom are willing to use your services will increase. The first and necessary step in
attracting more passengers to use your airline as opposed to other airlines, who don’t allow it, is
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permitting armed pilots. An airline captain by the name of Dale Lyde raised a very interesting
point. He said airlines tend to be worried about scaring people away but “phony security is
counterproductive” (Scott Para 28).
His statement is true; you need to change your way of thinking and look at it from a
different perspective. You might think that giving your pilots guns in the cockpit will scare
people away, but overall, unreliable and bare bones security will scare the most people away.
Marketing, advertising, and reputation all coincide with this idea having a strong and desired
security. It is true that more people will decide to use your service and fly on your planes if you
permit the arming of pilots as opposed to other companies who don’t. And obviously, as you
know more customers and passengers mean more money and more overall profit for your
company (Para. 28).
Once that door on your airplane closes and innocent people take their seats, will you be
worried? Scared? Relaxed? It’s all up to you and the decisions you make regarding the security
of your airplanes. Sure you could choose stronger cockpit doors but do you really think that they
will stop premeditated terrorist plans? Plus, the expenses to upgrade your cockpit doors add up to
more than the profit you get from an increase of customers when you arm your pilots. You also
can’t rely on the presence of air marshals on every one of your flights because there are simply
not enough of them trained to be on every plane. The sooner you make the decision to arm your
pilots, the better off your airline company will be.
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Works Cited
Donnelly, Sally B. "More Guns In The Air." Time 165.7 (2005): 13. Academic Search Complete.
Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
Fiorino, Frances. "Pilots In Showdown At 'Guns Not OK' Corral." Aviation Week & Space
Technology 156.10 (2002): 53. Academic Search Complete. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
Murray M, Jacobson L. ON BOARD THE SPIN MACHINE. National Journal [serial on the
Internet]. (2002, June), [cited November 23, 2014]; 34(22): 1627. Available from:
Academic Search Complete.
Scott, William B. "Airline Pilots: 'Arm Us And They Will Come.'." Aviation Week & Space
Technology 155.20 (2001): 47. Academic Search Complete. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
Sowell, Thomas. "Arming Airline Pilots Appears To Be Lesser Of Two Dangers." Insight On
The News 18.29 (2002): 45. Academic Search Complete. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.