UPDATE: The pilot has been taken off flight duty. Still unclear what happened, but an investigation is underway to see if the pilot was “mishandling” the gun. Here’s a scary story that I hadn’t heard about (but Gadling did): Over the weekend, a gun belonging to a US Airways pilot went off in the cockpit. Nobody was hurt, and the plane landed safely. Thank goodness. I’ve got more details on that (including my thoughts on what COULD have happened), but I’d like to hear your comments, too. Should we have armed pilots? Keep reading…

The pilot who owned the gun was trained under a federal program that allowed him to carry the firearm (I know accidents do happen, but this does kind of makes me wonder about his “training”).

Meanwhile, it’s not clear where the bullet went; all we do know is the plane was taken out of service and it was inspected to make sure all was well (or fix what wasn’t).

But, here’s the question: what if the co-pilot or someone else was hit? And Gadling wondered, what if the bullet had gone through the plane’s windshield (that could have gotten very ugly, very fast)?

I know, I know, armed pilots are meant to be a layer of protection against terrorists; but, with other safeguards, such as bullet-proof, locked cockpit doors, are firearms necessary?

Maybe so, maybe so…but a gun going off accidentally is troubling. Tell me what YOU think of this. Please leave a comment.