Many pilots are now demanding the right to carry tweezers
for self defense. The anti-tweezers lobby, flush with its victory in
getting tweezers completely banned from aircraft, opposes this. Flight
attendants have said they also oppose allowing pilots to carry tweezers
unless the flight attendants can carry tweezers, too.
Critics have said that allowing pilots to carry tweezers will only make
them a target for hijackers who will be spared the need of smuggling
their own tweezers onto the plane. "What if a hijacker takes a
five-year old child hostage? The pilot will be forced to give up his
tweezers and the game will be over."
Critics also say that the job of pilots is to fly the airplane and that
they will be too busy in critical situations to defend the cockpit with
tweezers. Pilots might accidentally use the tweezers to pull cables or
short out electrical systems. There is also the question of proper
tweezers storage. Should pilots carry the tweezers on their persons or
should the tweezers be kept in a locked box?
Other critics have said that pilots are not trained to use tweezers and
that mentally unstable pilots might even use the tweezers against
passengers. "No psychological screening method is perfect,"
said one.
Many pilots, however, assert that the Constitution includes the right to
bear tweezers. "If I am confronted by a hijacker, I want him to know
that he is in for a good plucking," said one airline captain who
wishes to remain anonymous.
Most passengers surveyed indicated that they are uncomfortable with the
idea of flying with pilots armed with tweezers. F. E. Ree Trembleshake,
spokesperson for the National Association of People Afraid of Everything
(NAPEA), said he would not get on to an airliner if he knew the pilots
had access to tweezers. Of course, Trembleshake has not set foot out of
his own home in thirty years, but that is beside the point.
Newsgroup geeks have also sounded off on the issue. One who signs himself
only as BIGGER_IS_SMALLER said that pilots who think they need tweezers
to defend themselves are cowardly. "It does not take large elbows to
carry tweezers," he said.
_______________________
Scott MacLean
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
ICQ: 9184011
http://www.nerosoft.com
