If you're going to fly soon......

Apparently, a man got past TSA security with not one, but three boxcutters.   Not terribly surprising, as in the right orientation, the blade will look no more menacing than a straight pin. In related news, only 10% of pilots were allowed to be armed in 2008, and only 16.5% are projected to be allowed to be armed this year.

This tells us some things.  First of all, the TSA's sandbagging on allowing pilots to fly armed has worked--the program for training is filled for the next five years.  One can only imagine what percentage would be armed without this sandbagging by the TSA--keep in mind here that a most airline pilots are former military, and hardly need to be trained at all to carry a pistol safely.

Second of all, the odds are apparently no better than 30% today that your next flight has an armed pilot, and as few as 1% of flights have an air marshal.  Odds are that your best defence against those who would wreak mayhem sits in your seat, and in those of your neighbors.