Would you rather have on your flight the pilot who fired his gun in his cockpit or the FA who started a fire?

Question

FA Admits Starting Fire Onboard Compass Flight

19-Year-Old Was Angry With Route Assignment

An in-flight fire onboard a Compass Airlines regional flight from Minneapolis to Regina, Saskatchewan earlier this month was apparently the result of a young flight attendant's temper tantrum.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports Eder Rojas, 19, admitted he deliberately started a fire in the rear lavatory of the Embraer 175 during the May 7 flight, because he was upset the airline made him work that route.

The flames forced Flight 2040 to divert to Fargo, ND, where it made an uneventful emergency landing. None of the 72 passengers and four crewmembers onboard were injured, though they were questioned by FBI agents and police upon arrival.

It was during those interrogations the picture started to come together. Rojas was initially credited with helping to put out the fire, along with another flight attendant and a passenger... but reports soon emerged the young FA had acted strangely when the alarms first sounded.

Passenger Ryan Boughen said Rojas stood in the aisle at least 30 seconds after the alarms sounded, before he took action. "I yelled that I smelled smoke and eventually he did go back there to check it out," Boughen said. "He peeked into the bathroom and I saw this yellowish-greyish smoke pour out the top of the door and then he closed the door right away."

According to a District Court complaint, Rojas stuffed an extra packet of paper towels in the lav's dispenser just before the flight left Minneapolis. Rojas later told authorities he reached into the lav and lit the towels on fire before starting beverage service.

An agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confirmed the fire was "intentionally set inside the napkin/paper towel compartment, with the most likely ignition point being an extra packet of paper towels in the compartment."

If convicted, Rojas could be fined and sentenced to up to 20 years in prison. Needless to say, he's already been fired from Compass.

FMI: www.compassairlines.com

Answer 1

I'd much rather have the pilot who had an accidental discharge of his weapon on board than the nut case who deliberately set a fire in flight. There are several reasons for this: 1) the weapon discharge was accidental, not intentional, and resulted from a poor holster and procedures mandated by the TSA, not due to the pilot's incompetence, furthermore, it happened on the ground, after landing, while the pilot was preparing to leave his seat; 2) a bullet fired from a gun, even in flight, is extremelly unlikely to result in any control problems or structural problems for the aircraft; on the other hand, an in-flight fire is one of the most dangerous emergencies that can be encountered in an aircraft, with high potential for rapidly spreading, causing structural failure and/or control system problems, very easily leading to a fatal crash (often, quite rapidly), to say nothing of the poisonous gasses released during combustion of aircraft interiors; 3) the person who lit a fire did it knowing full well the potential danger, and showed a complete lack of responsibility in doing so, leading me to think such an unstable person could easily do so again, whereas the pilot had no such intention, and would be highly unlikely to repeat the accident.

Answer 2

The accidental discharge was just that:  accidental.  The FA who started the fire on board an aircraft performed an intentional malicious act which jeopardized everyone on board.  While the pilot's mishandling of his weapon raises some questions, it is a long way from intentionally placing people in harm's way.

Answer 3

actually, a gun is not allowed for a pilot to carry unless it does not cause any MAJOR damage to the aircraft.  So i vote for the gun discharge.