TSA: Airline pilots sane to fly; too crazy to be armed

At Pajamas Media, Annie Jacobsen writes that an Oklahoma doctor contracted by the Transportation Security Administration is disqualifying airline pilots from flying armed under the Federal Flight Deck Officer’s program.

I asked Dr. Hogan to speak about subjecting pilots — who are routinely drug-tested, by the way — to the Hogan Test. “There is a distinction between technical talent and emotional maturity. You can fly a plane and be crazy — or at least be a complete hot-head — which is what we find all the time,” Hogan said.

Captain Mackett cited an example from the written part of the psyche test — since changed — that asked: “Would you like to be a fighter pilot?” Considering that many commercial pilots are and have been fighter pilots it’s natural that many would answer that question with a “Yes.” According to Mackett, the TSA concluded that these pilots “had overly aggressive personalities and disqualified them from the program.”

Thanks to this doctor and the loony leadership at the TSA, otherwise qualified pilots — who are licensed, trained, and willing to carry firearms — are allowed to fly yet denied the means to aggressively defend their passengers and planes.

‘Moment of Truth in Iraq’ author Michael Yon

Syndicated talk radio host Mark Levin interviewed former Special Forces soldier and now author Michael Yon about his book ‘Moment of Truth in Iraq: How a New ‘Greatest Generation’ of American Soldiers is Turning Defeat and Disaster into Victory and Hope.’ Having spent much of the past three years as a self-embedded journalist there, Michael talked about Iraq and the situation now:

In the ‘Gates of Fire’ chapter he describes when Deuce Four found a sniper the hard way. In this photo Michael took, you see Battalion Commander LTC Erik Kurilla right after he is shot (struck three times in the legs) and doing a “crazy judo roll,” while to the left, enemy bullets strike the wall next to a 2nd Lieutenant’s head.

One in a series of photographs taken by Michael Yon while on patrol with Deuce Four, in 2005.

You will have to buy ‘Moment of Truth in Iraq‘ to read the rest of what happened.