Salon :: Tech & Business

Ask the pilot: When pilots carry guns. Plus: Airport security and yet more TSA brainteasers

On March 22, a pilot's .40-caliber handgun accidentally discharged in the cockpit of a US Airways flight bound for Charlotte, N.C. The crew member, who has not been identified, is one of an undisclosed number of airline pilots authorized to carry firearms as part of the Federal Flight Deck Officer program, created after the terrorist attacks of 2001. Investigators are looking into what caused the gun to fire. The jet, an Airbus A319, was removed from service pending a damage inspection. <P>A couple of days later our old friends the Associated Press dispatched a pair of wire stories on the incident -- both of which were in need of some, um, clarification. <p>...</p><img src="http://feeds.salon.com/~r/salon/tech/~4/259336917" height="1" width="1"/>

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