The Heroic Brinks Guard Who Changed Aviation Security Forever

Los Angeles, CA — As we reflect on air travel discomforts and the tragedies of 9/11 and consider how to handle similar threats in the future, let us revisit a long-forgotten story with a very different outcome.

The only hijacker ever shot aboard a U.S. airliner was stopped on September 15, 1970, aboard Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight 15, a Boeing 707. The flight, originating in Chicago and bound for San Francisco, had just completed a stopover in Los Angeles when Donald Irwin, a 27-year-old armed hijacker, seized control of the aircraft. Irwin, brandishing a firearm, threatened flight attendants in the aft galley and demanded the plane be diverted to North Korea.

Unbeknownst to Irwin, the aircraft was neither equipped nor capable of such a journey. His plan was doomed from the start. However, the actions of one courageous individual ensured the safety of everyone onboard.

A Captain’s Quick Thinking

The pilot, Captain J.K. Gilman, was quickly informed of the hijacking and remembered that Robert DeNisco, a plainclothes Brinks security guard, was aboard in First Class, tasked with escorting a shipment of money. Using the airplane’s intercom, Captain Gilman relayed a simple yet shocking message to a flight attendant: “Tell him I said to go back and shoot that bastard!”

DeNisco’s Heroic Actions

DeNisco, a Vietnam and Korea combat war hero, didn’t hesitate. Slowly and methodically, he moved toward the aft galley where Irwin was holding court. DeNisco changed seats multiple times, inching closer with each move. When the time was right, he sprang into action.

Instead of firing immediately, DeNisco decided to take control of the situation verbally. He stood up, pointed his revolver, and shouted, “Police officer, drop your weapon!” Though he wasn’t a police officer, the authoritative command startled Irwin, who turned toward DeNisco with his gun. DeNisco fired a single, precise shot, hitting Irwin in the abdomen. The hijacker collapsed, and DeNisco secured his weapon. Thanks to his bravery, the plane made a safe landing, and all lives were saved.

Aftermath and Recognition

Irwin, critically injured, survived thanks to emergency medical care. Robert DeNisco was hailed as a hero. His actions marked the end of the hijacking, but his story didn’t stop there.

The incident inspired the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to create the Air Marshal program, a new layer of security for U.S. air travel. Recognizing DeNisco’s courage and expertise, the FAA recruited him to train the first generation of Air Marshals.

DeNisco’s heroics even caught the attention of President Richard Nixon, who personally called to congratulate him. Brinks, proud of their employee’s bravery, hosted an event in his honor at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, where DeNisco was recognized by numerous officials and peers.

A Troubling Turn of Events

Despite his contributions, DeNisco’s later life took an unfortunate turn. FAA regulations eventually disarmed even sworn law enforcement officers, leaving only federal agents and hijackers armed on planes. DeNisco, the very man who had saved Flight 15, was later stripped of his right to carry firearms due to a technicality: a juvenile joyriding incident that resulted in a conviction. Though it had no bearing on his fitness as a Brinks guard or an Air Marshal trainer, it was enough under gun control act of 1968 to permanently disarm him.

The Legacy of September 15, 1970

DeNisco’s story is one of heroism overshadowed by bureaucratic missteps. His quick thinking and courage saved countless lives and reshaped aviation security forever. Yet, the same government that honored him later undermined his rights and contributions.

Today, we face ongoing challenges in aviation security. Since 9/11, the TSA has implemented sweeping changes but has yet to prevent a single terrorist attack. Instead, it has created a culture of inconvenience, humiliation, and inefficiency for travelers.

Ordinary citizens—not the TSA—stopped both the shoe bomber and the underwear bomber. Perhaps the lesson we should take from DeNisco’s story is this: heroes emerge when individuals are empowered, not hindered, by bureaucratic red tape.

As we remember September 15, 1970, let us honor Robert DeNisco and his legacy. His bravery serves as a reminder of what’s possible when individuals step up in the face of danger.

A sidenote: I wish to thank Robert DeNisco for granting me the interview long ago. Sadly, he passed away in 2013 at the age of 76.  

FAA Drone Regulation, Is It Time For Mass Civil Disobedience?

Let me begin by saying my views on this subject are my own and doing what I suggest could result in prosecution. The risk however is very low…

Being an avid photographer for most of my life, the amazing drone technology has become an exciting addiction.  Ive been flying them for over four years now getting images I could only dream about before.  Placing great musical soundtracks on my videos has been pure joy.  

I fly really safe having never once damaged property or caused injury. I follow sound advice like staying away from other aircraft, flying well below 400 feet (flying higher does not aid in capturing great images).  I fly sober and watchful and accordingly I have never needed crash repairs.

I won’t ever ask permission to flyover or photograph private property.  That’s constitutionally protected activity that fixed wing and helicopters have enjoyed for years and there is plenty of settled appellate law that guides me.  

As for the FAA.  FAA rules, until drones became to be, were always written in the blood of actual air catastrophes. Prior restraint regulation was not part of the FAA’s culture until modern hobby drones appeared in our skies. 

Conventional pilots understood only too well that drones were going to invade their professional turf and threaten their livelihoods. Pilots and FAA officials entered into a public relations conspiracy to demonize drones, their operators and to frighten the public that their safety, privacy and wellbeing were at serious risk. 

Pilots were calling in phony drone sightings and near collisions constantly creating what I called, Drone Hysteria. The phony reports are few and far between now that the novelty has worn off. 

The Obama Administration’s FAA’s mouth was watering with the idea of punitive drone regulation followed by thousands of new enforcement jobs and promotions.  

Fortunately drones increased by a few million and still there were no collisions with conventional aircraft, serious injuries or property damage.  Any excuse to grow the FAA because of drones was and is a total failure.   

The FAA has since created a horrendous, two tiered system for drone operators with separate rules.  The somewhat relaxed hobbyist rules and the substantially burdensome, stricter and more unreasonable commercial user’s regulations.  

The Part 107 Commercial rules are petty, unfair and do nothing to make our airspace safer.  The simply make unnecessary work for everyone akin to digging holes only to fill them back up.

The petty, Part 107 rules are virtually unenforceable because the FAA lacks meaningful manpower to police them. 

Drone operators love answering questions to FAA officials and that ignorant behavior allows the FAA inspectors to easily build cases against them. If the drone operators simply were smart enough to ask for a lawyer instead of blabbing and making admissions there would be virtually no cases to prosecute.

It’s much easier to talk your way into a courtroom.  Keeping your mouth shut tight will do wonders to keep you out of trouble, away from lawyers, their fees and court fines.    

I say when in doubt, fly if you really need the images. Lets say your two miles from a major airport and you want to inspect a roof or capture real estate marketing material at less than 70 feet above the structures go ahead.  

If your in such an area considered sensitive, fly your drone early in the morning before the FAA, local police and public have had their coffee. Use your vehicles to shield drone take offs and landings. Above all fly low and safe. 

Above all tell your Congress people to get the FAA off of our backs and have them return to real safety issues with conventional aircraft. 

The Current State of Drones, Laws, Regulations, Fear and Loathing.

Washington, DC--it's a painfully slow process for politicians and FAA bureaucrats to accept the need, legitimacy and relative safety of those little civilian drones. 

There was the initial hysteria of passenger jets crashing, mass privacy invasion because of those little drones.  The panic reaction was bolstered with thousands mistaken or deliberately false reports of sightings claiming drone misbehavior.  

Thankfully as the number of drones in civilian hands increased by leaps and bounds, the bogus reports quietly subsided considerably. 

Very recently progress has been made in allowing the commercial use of drones under a somewhat loosened set of rules and guidelines.  Along with the more realistic drone rules the FAA created the Part 107 licensing exemption with a written test for commercial drone pilots.  

They have allowed for considerable expansion of drone use in urban areas for news gathering, filmmaking, property inspection, marketing and photography.  

The FAA still must give a bit on night flights, first person view and use over highways and people. Slowly that too is happening.

The same is needed for low altitude flights below 150 feet near, but not adjacent to airports.  Inspecting a roof of a building with a drone that's a half mile from an airport from 30 feet above should not require anything more than simple caution. 

We've still not seen a single fatality, serious injury or property damage caused by a drone.  This despite nearly four million of them in the hands of all manner of men, women and children. 

Drones are a natural tool for news gathering purposes. Their excellent broadcast quality cameras, safe low altitude flight and minimal expense will save countless jobs in America's newsrooms.  

For news gathering drones are substantially preferable to helicopters in all but those high speed police chases.  The liability issues of drone use is also minuscule compared to that of helicopters. 

Still safety is a real concern along with the upscale price of drones that ultimately keeps their owners cautious. None of them want to see their precious drones damaged or lost.  

Finally superior drone video has become slowly integrated in our nation's TV newscasts.   There is virtually little noise and no pollution emitted from these marvelous little machines.

Hopefully police will begin to use them to document traffic accidents saving time and money.  Drones can cut the time busy streets are obstructed for traffic investigations by two-thirds.  

The Netherlands has been using them to deliver defibrillators to save the lives of heart attack victims.  Drones are excellent tools for use in critical missing persons cases, search and rescue. The benefits of our civilian drones make for a better and bright future.  

Using Drones in Governmental and Private Security Applications is Safe, Effective and Economical

Santa Barbara, CA--Private Security is really more about deterrence, and loss prevention.  Bringing in drones is a perfect application for security contractors to rid their clients of burglars, sex offenders and vandals. 

Of course homeowners associations can create their own in house program but it's generally not needed.  However there are times when criminals show up in soft target communities then it's time to call in a qualified security contractor with drones.  

Wether it's a burglary or vandalism problem drones operated and flying at less than 300 feet can can easily observe and record the deeds.  Ground security and police can be quickly alerted to handle enforcement activities.

Drones are excellent for all industrial security applications.  They can be sent up as needed to examine areas or for responding to various alarms and such. 

Drones have been used to smuggle contraband into correctional facilities.  Actually those kinds of facilities could greatly benefit from using the drone technology to watch their own facilities augmenting ground patrols.  

FLIR thermal imaging and drones go really well together making night operations incredibly effective.  

Any professional guard agency can easily add drone patrol to their list of services. 

The only real question is when the FAA will stop standing in the way of progress and public safety?  Despite the existence of three million drones in unlicensed hands there's not been a single fatality, serious injury or notable property damage anywhere yet the FAA has engaged in massive restraint of trade and prior restraint style enforcement activities. 

The FAA seems to be in far greater need of control than America's drone operators. 

Drone Hysteria! Gullible Media Organizations have Been Hoodwinked Big Time by the FAA and DOT

Washington, D.C.—We have a full-blown crisis!  We are being told that government must suddenly regulate and register the well over two million drones used by hobbyists, photographers, filmmakers and other ordinary civilians.

For over two years now we’ve heard the media tell us how these little pesky devices will bring down airliners, invade privacy and destroy our way of life.  Pulling the puppet strings of the media has been the FAA and DOT. 

Chicago’s Mayor, Rahm Emanuel said it best back when he was Obama’s Chief of Staff, “Never let a good crisis go to waste!”  This drone crisis is nothing more that a manufactured one.

The FAA has showered the media with their “facts” in that they claim there are well over 700 cases of near misses with airliners and other conventional aircraft.

Missing from these statistics are a single fatality, serious injury or even a report of notable property damage.  Because drones have driven news stories like wildfire a child needing a Band-Aid on his nose from a drone propeller is automatically a national news story. 

I guess nobody in the media noticed that there is not a single incident where a multi-rotor camera drone every touched any conventional aircraft, ever.

More importantly there is not a single identified suspect, prosecution, captured drone, video or even a photograph involving these near miss reports!  Nearly everyone has a video camera in their pockets today but not a single image exists of drone misconduct? 

Now there is a sudden rush to regulate and register every little drone in America!  We are being told that this is being done in the name of public safety.  Is it about safety or just a case of government selling us on more government?  As you read this you know the answer, we’ve been had!

The reason for the sudden rush is simple.   As each year drags on and there are no significant accidents to report or legitimate cases of privacy invasions discovered the need for regulation is non-existent.  The taxpayers can’t then be fleeced over this manufactured impending doom.

Imagine the number of FAA and DOT agents that will be needed to register and inspect every drone in America?  Politicians will be putting their relatives, friends and supporters in well paying government drone chasing jobs! 

Then they will all take credit for the fact that there are no deaths, injuries or property damage as a result of their comprehensive drone enforcement activities!  That’s how our government works!

In the meantime the morons in suits running our shrinking news organizations that helped to create this Drone Hysteria must continue spending millions leasing helicopters and crews to get images.   Using drones would only cost a tiny percentage of what they pay now.

Conventional pilots run the FAA.  They are all aware that drones will be eliminating a significant percentage of their jobs.  They have an obvious conflict of interest here.  It’s in their interest to slow the drone technology down as much as they can.

FAA regulations were all written in blood.  They are based on actual deadly aircraft accidents.  When it came to our little drones the FAA departed from reactive regulation to one of prior restraint.  That’s un-American!  So is the FAA stranglehold on the commercial use of a drone. 

Will we wake up in time to keep the FAA in check?  I doubt it.  

The FAA Can’t Perpetuate Drone Hysteria Without Evidence of a Single Notable Accident!

Town of Paradise Valley, AZ—Some of this small but wealthy community’s politicians bought into the baseless idea that multi-rotor camera drones were a threat to safety and privacy. 

Ignorance and the novelty of the drones themselves motivated politicians here to make an effort to ban drones. They thought that their residents would somehow appreciate their efforts.

Things backfired when local relators complained that the use of drones showcased the homes and community like never before.  Banning or over-regulating them could damage property values and of course property tax collections.

The Town Council considered the ban but cooler heads in that body tabled the idea at least until they had more valid guidance and information.  How they revisit this issue remains to be seen.

As for the somewhat popular Drone Invasion, there were no less than 700 reports of near misses with conventional aircraft investigated by the FAA.

Not a single collision, photo, or video has surfaced in those reports.  Were these bogus reports by people seeking attention?  Were they reports by some pilots seeking to protect their jobs by slowing down the proliferation of drones that will take their jobs?

I can’t guess what was real or fraudulent in the much-publicized world of drones and their detractors.  What we do know is their are zero fatalities, serious injuries or significant property damage.  Certainly there’s not a singe collision with other aircraft.

There are well over two million of these marvelous machines in the hands of teens and adults that are gathering spectacular images for creative endeavors, journalism and marketing.

The privacy invasion and safety fears have not been realized in any way, shape or form beyond unsubstantiated reports that have been given far too much ink.

I fully expect as the bogus reports begin to die down the FAA will take credit for their educational efforts for the decline in those rogue sightings.

The fact is there must come a point in time when the hysteria must die without some tangible evidence. 

It’s interesting to note that all FAA regulations for conventional aircraft were actually written in blood!  Yes, actual deaths and serious crashes were behind each and every rule.

When it came to the drones the FAA radically changed direction to enacting prior restraint guidelines and criminalized private enterprise.  This was un-American and violates the civil rights of those wishing to operate their drones.

Despite the threats of enforcement and state and local efforts to police our drones, what’s lacking is a legitimate demonstration of any misbehavior by drone operators.

The few attempts at prosecution have fallen flat from a lack of evidence.  The videos and telemetry data contained on the drones themselves have vindicated the operators.

It’s time to move forward with this exciting new technology.

Flying Drones Over Private Property and Asking Permission

Los Angeles, CA—Many people consider the airspace  above the property that they own or lease is theirs.   Some have actually used firearms to shoot at drones somehow thinking that was somehow justified.

Federal and state laws universally ban shooting at aircraft.  There are heavy penalties for shooting at drones or any aircraft, even UFOs.  

Many drone operators operate on ignorance and have bought into the idea that there is or may be private ownership rights to airspace above private property.

The law is simple, our airspace is shared public property.  Exclusively, the FAA regulates aircraft including drones operating in our airspace. 

State and local governments cannot make or enforce laws regulating aircraft in our airspace.  Many local jurisdictions have tried out of the simple ignorance of their lawmakers.  Those laws they have already placed on the books are unenforceable due to the FAA preemption.

Have the helicopter and fixed wing pilots ever asked permission to fly over land occupied by people?  We all know the answer to that.

Are those little camera drones somehow different?  Other than they fly at lower altitudes there is no difference.  Okay, the helicopters and fixed wing aircraft carry much heaver and more sophisticated cameras than the little drones. 

It would be both wrong and even criminal to use a drone to harass or stalk anyone.  Use of a drone does not insulate anyone from those criminal and civil penalties.  

However. flying over property to shoot video or obtain still photographs is constitutionally protected and genuinely established First Amendment activity.

When should you obtain permission?  Flying at or near airports requires permission for obvious reasons.  The same applies to any FAA “No Fly Zone”.

How about your neighborhood?  If you’re standing on property posted with No Trespassing signs or you’ve been asked to leave there could be an arrest and criminal conviction in your future.  Here you need permission. 

It will be a lot easier to get if you offered the property owner a copy of or a YouTube link to your work.  Most people would really want to see how their property looks like from your drone.  

If your launching your drone from public streets and sidewalks asking permission invites a meaningless refusal and coveys your rights away unnecessarily.  That also sets a bad example and precedent. 

Be kind and friendly to those that express concerns about your flying your drone. 

I’ve learned that it’s best to fly over residential property during the week when people are at work and commercial property on the weekends when they are closed.

Privacy laws are simple.  We all have a right to a reasonable expectation of privacy provided we are inside our homes and businesses.  Should we decide to skinny-dip in our own outdoor swimming pools there is no longer such an expectation.  Using someone’s image for commercial purposes is another matter.  

People have become accustomed to satellite, news choppers, fixed wing aircraft taking images.  Today they think nothing of surveillance video cameras everywhere in populated areas. 

The drones are a new phenomenon and a state of Drone Hysteria have taken over some people.  They need to calm down and enjoy the stunning images. 

There are drone operators that have appointed themselves as Drone Police and have tried to impose their own ideals on other rather then allowing the law of the land to sort it out.  Unfortunately most of those vigilantes never bothered to learn about existing law and our Bill of Rights.