Joe Cunningham: “I have got over 10,000 hours in military and civilian airplanes flying Lears, G-4s, every fighter that you can name. And…”

“I have got over 10,000 hours in military and civilian airplanes flying Lears, G-4s, every fighter that you can name. And I would tell my colleagues first of all it is hard enough to shoot down an enemy airplane with your psyche and if a pilot ever has to shoot down a civilian airplane, we ought to give that pilot a lot of support because not just during the act but after the act it will be very difficult for that individual. But I tell my colleagues that as a pilot myself with thousands of hours, if I was going aboard an airplane either as a passenger or a pilot, I would want several things. The massive security that the gentleman spoke about before, including INS, to make sure that people are not available to do the bad things, but I would want the marshals. I would want a policy where airline hostesses are trained so that if an act takes place, then they are automatically going to strap themselves down because if someone tries to get through that cockpit, a 757 will take about two negative G's. I am going to put those guys on the top of the roof and try to break their necks and let them pick themselves up off the ground. But as a pilot, as in the Pennsylvania airplane, there is no pilot in the world that is going to take that airplane and fly it into a building. The bad guys are going to slit your throat and take over the airplane. And I want the Kevlar door. I want the marshals.”