JetBlue pilot charged with weapons possession

I hope he gets a good lawyer, but if the Post report is true, at the minimum, that is the end of his flying career. If it truly was a mistake, what a sad situation to be in.
 
I'm not sure if FFDO's are authorized to carry their weapons when they dead-head or jump-seat. (Dead-heading is traveling because the company needs to reposition you someplace; jump-seating is hitching a ride in the cockpit because you want to go someplace on your own time.)

There were some problems early on, when FFDO's were required to check the guns while dead-heading, where those guns were stolen at some point in the baggage handling process. I believe they then changed the program, to where the FFDO's keep the weapons with them. I could be wrong, but I seem to recall an FFDO friend telling me that.
 
From the NY Post article motorhead0922 posted, I'm led to believe they're only charging him with weapons possession (which I assume to be not having a license for NY state).

I hope us normal Joe's, airlines, and the TSA don't expect FFDO's to throw away a gun when they land the plane somewhere, then purchase a new gun for use on their next piloted flight. When a FFDO pilots a flight from L.A. to New York, it's okay to have the gun in the cockpit, but they can't have it when they dead-head to Atlanta to pilot another flight from Atlanta back to L.A., where they would be authorized to carry..... Though that does kinda sound exactly like something the TSA would expect them to do. If the FFDO can't carry on a dead-head, then how exactly are they supposed to get their gun back???


I also found it ridiculous the NY Post called the TSA screener "eagle-eyed" for finding a handgun in a bag through the use of an x-ray machine. From the way they described it, you'd think the TSA screener had super-human vision and spotted the gun through the backpack from across the terminal... :barf:
 
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jgcoastie said:
If the FFDO can't carry on a dead-head, then how exactly are they supposed to get their gun back???
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Exactly.

If this pilot is a FFDO, as I said before, I hope a TSA employee and a Port Authority cop or three find their career paths prematurely switched over to something commensurate with their capabilities ... like scrubbing urinals in the JFK mens rooms. If he is a FFDO, he IS an air marshal, a Federal LEO, and he IS covered by the LEOSA. However, just as NYC and the Port Authority don't respect the FOPA, they probably also don't respect the LEOSA.

Which is beyond shameful.
 
Musteteer:
See if this story disappears.
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It appears to have done just that. There is nothing on the web that I have found except the huffpost, nypost, and dailymail in UK.

JetBlue in particular, ain't sayin' a thing.
 
Sorry for a very slight, but on-topic veer...

Last time I came home from Afghanistan, (as a contractor, I fly into and out of the US via commercial airlines), I was detained by TSA briefly because I caused one of those walk-through, rotating scanners to alarm.

The TSA guy asked if I had anything in my pockets, to which I replied, "No." To the best of my knowledge, this was a correct answer. He then proceeded to wand me down.

The wand beeped by the two penholder pockets on the outside of the left leg, lower cargo pocket. Turned out, at some point or another when I was practicing with a 9mm, an empty casing had fallen into one of the pen-holders. I have no idea how long it had been in there, but those pants had been through the laundry a few times since the last time I'd shot.

So, here we are with this expended, very clean 9mm casing. The TSA guy's eyes go wide, and he starts shouting for a supervisor. (This is not a kid; he was probably around my age, IE 40ish.) I'm saying, "I didn't know that was there; and it's an expended case. What's the big deal?" The TSA guy is extremely agitated...

Luckily, his supervisor had more sense. She came over, saw the empty casing, asked where it had been, and told the first TSA guy that it was no big deal. After he walked off, she laughed, but quietly, so he wouldn't hear.

I thanked her for her help. She said, "Hey, you can't say the equipment doesn't work."

Unfortunately, that doesn't mean the screeners will use any common sense. In my case, the supervisor did.

If it turns out Paulson was an FFDO heading home or to base from a stopover, I'd guess the supervisor in NY didn't use common sense.
 
As a NY resident I can attest that "Common Sense" with regards to firearms is extemely uncommon here.
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Hey, you don't like New York firearms laws, move across the river to Jersey. LMAO............

Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose--Janis Joplin
 
the way you guys talk, it sounds as if you think TSA wants their legally-armed pilots to be legally armed. but it doesn't really have a good civil-rights track record...
 
swopjan said:
the way you guys talk, it sounds as if you think TSA wants their legally-armed pilots to be legally armed. but it doesn't really have a good civil-rights track record...
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Many pilots would probably opine that the TSA does NOT want pilots to be armed. The FFDO program was created by act of Congress, not by TSA initiative. A great many pilots simply refuse to "enlist" because the certification process is so onerous.
 
I also found it ridiculous the NY Post called the TSA screener "eagle-eyed" for finding a handgun in a bag through the use of an x-ray machine. From the way they described it, you'd think the TSA screener had super-human vision and spotted the gun through the backpack from across the terminal... :barf:
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They probably called him that because the TSA misses so many obvious weapons when they go through their screening checks. You used to be able to read about the test conducted by TSA (Or maybe the FBI) on which airports had really bad screaners. They do not publish these anymore, not because it gives the TSA a black-eye, but because the terrorist might read the reports.
 
It sounds to me like the pilot himself made a procedural error... FFDOs are not subject to screening. They are escorted through the checkpoint by a supervisory screening officer, documented, sign a form and go on about their lives. If he passed his bag which contained a handgun through the x-ray, he should be expected to be detained. Still, it's a simple error, albeit a stupid one, and he should have been released when the truth was realized.

Even in the very small airport where I worked, we had FFDOs through the checkpoint on a regular basis. The fact that his bags were screened is very odd. Every one involved, most especially the FFDO himself, should have known better.

swopjan said:
the way you guys talk, it sounds as if you think TSA wants their legally-armed pilots to be legally armed. but it doesn't really have a good civil-rights track record...
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The pilots aren't "TSA" personal, they aren't "their" pilots.

I never met a single TSA employee, from front-line screening officers to Federal Security Directors, that had the slightest issue with the FFDO program. Frankly, it's not even "on the radar". The policies and procedures surrounding the FFDO program were always discussed with a total "ho-hum" attitude.... which I can assure you is not the case with a fair number of controversial policies.
 
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