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Brothers in arms: Wary pilots want guns in the coc
Josey1
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Brothers in arms: Wary pilots want guns in the cockpit
By TUX TURKEL, Portland Press Herald Writer
Copyright c 2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
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Staff photo by Fred J. Field
De Bethencourt demonstrates how to escape from various holds during a hand-to-hand defense course.
EPPING, N.H. - Commercial airline pilots undergo extensive training to do their jobs. Learning how to kill or * an attacker, by breaking his neck or spinal column, was not part of the program. Until now.
"I've got eight hours to teach you how to kill," Michael de Bethencourt told eight pilots last week at SIGARMS Academy.
SIGARMS Academy is a 12-year-old offshoot of SIGARMS, a Swiss gun maker that has a manufacturing and distribution plant in Epping. An adjunct staff instructor, de Bethencourt was teaching a seminar called "Subject control in confined spaces for pilots and flight crews."
In attendance were eight commercial airline pilots, including two with ties to Maine. After completing the one-day course in hand-to-hand defense, some of the pilots would stay for a second day. That's when they learned how to defend an aircraft using semi-automatic pistols and revolvers.
Two weeks ago, the Bush administration decided against allowing pilots to carry guns on commercial airplanes. It said pilots should concentrate on flying and let trained air marshals defend against possible terrorist attacks, like the suicide hijackings of Sept. 11.
The eight pilots gathered here last week ridiculed that decision, and sought self-defense and weapons training, anyway.
"It would be very difficult for me to concentrate on my flying when some guy is trying to slit my throat open," said Fred Dambrie, a Portland native who lives in Jackson, N.H.
Dambrie and his colleagues say they are the last line of defense against airborne terrorism. And if they are trusted to fly a $50 million airplane filled with hundreds of passengers, they should be responsible enough to carry firearms.
That's why, despite opposition from the government and the airlines, thousands of pilots like Dambrie are lobbying to carry weapons in the cockpit. While the debate continues, hundreds of pilots are spending their own money on self-defense and firearm training courses, such as the ones at SIGARMS Academy.
"The key," said Joe Kalil, a pilot from Kentucky and technical research chairman of the Airline Pilots Security Alliance, "is that 3,000 people wouldn't have died on Sept. 11 if eight pilots hadn't been killed."
The alliance is pushing a three-point approach that includes improving airport security, upgrading aircraft, and arming trained, willing airline pilots with handguns. A grassroots organization formed after Sept. 11, the alliance helped organize the pilots who came to the three-day course at SIGARMS Academy. The pilots stressed that they came on their own time. They declined to state which airlines they fly for, saying they feared retribution.
SIGARMS Academy has offered these aircraft-defense courses twice since January. More than 40 people have attended, many of them pilots who fly out of Portland, Boston and Manchester, N.H. Others have come from around the country. The firearms courses are $99 each. The hand-defense course costs $19.95, a discounted price designed to attract interest.
The eight pilots who sat around tables last week in de Bethencourt's classroom during a day of hand-defense training were acutely interested. With handguns banned for now, the pilots were eager for other means of defending their airplanes.
De Bethencourt has the credentials to teach them. A martial arts expert and internationally recognized instructor with the tactical folding knife, he has trained more than 1,000 law-enforcement officers.
De Bethencourt took time to explain the legal considerations of using deadly force. He then outlined the physiological requirements for stopping an attacker, either through massive blood loss or crippling the central nervous system.
It was the latter technique that the pilots would learn, because it's the one they could do with their bare hands. For the rest of the day they would concentrate on variations of a single tactic, building confidence that they could carry out the mechanics of this lethal move in a life-or-death situation.
The tactic appears simple. The pilot grabs the back of the attacker's head and forces it down. Using both hands, he then applies a deliberate, quick twist to break the neck or spine. The entire procedure takes a second or two.
"The lower the head is," de Bethencourt told the men, "the more curvature on the spine, and the easier it is to put pressure on the spinal column."
Of course, putting this deadly neck twist on a determined assailant takes skill and practice. De Bethencourt showed the group how to block blows, neutralize weapons and overcome attacks in different situations, and how to force an assailant into a position where deadly force could be applied. A key technique involved grabbing and crushing a male attacker's testicles, to make him double over.
"Oh, that's gotta hurt!" de Bethencourt exclaimed as the class practiced the technique as part of the exercise.
During breaks, the pilots talked about the seminar and their wider concerns for airline safety.
John Kane lives in North Hampton, N.H., and flies out of Logan Airport in Boston. He knew the pilots on the doomed flights that took off from Boston on Sept. 11, recalling one as a strong, former Navy pilot who could handle almost anything.
Kane said the seminar will give him more practical knowledge to defend his plane. He had already been taking karate courses near his home.
"A gun would be nice," Kane said, "because I'm responsible. No one else is wearing the four stripes. And if it comes down to us, we can't afford to lose."
Fred Dambrie and his pilot son, Joe, also had prior training. Fred took a four-day handgun course earlier this year in Nevada. Joe, a Portland resident, is a former Marine with martial arts experience. Both said they were finding the SIGARMS Academy course valuable.
"I want to get better," Fred Dambrie said. "It's going to teach me stuff I'd rather not learn. I've got five years left in my career. If someone told me a year ago we'd be dealing with this, I wouldn't have believed them."
In lieu of a handgun, Dambrie has begun carrying a four-cell metal flashlight on board.
"It's my club," he said.
Kalil, the pilots' organizer, is a former Army helicopter pilot and a firearms instructor. He stressed that his group wants to arm only pilots who choose to carry guns, who undergo careful screening and who agree to take FBI training courses.
Many people don't realize, he noted, that commercial pilots were allowed to carry guns until 1987. That's when a former airline employee broke into a cockpit over California and shot both pilots. Forty-three people died. The Federal Aviation Administration banned guns soon after.
Following Sept. 11, many pilots concluded that it was time to overturn that ban.
But two weeks ago, U.S. Transportation Undersecretary John Magaw ruled otherwise. He told a Senate committee that air marshals are better equipped to safely handle guns on airplanes. The pilots, behind newly strengthened cockpit doors, can steer the aircraft to throw hijackers off balance, he said. Magaw also suggested planes should have cameras installed so pilots can see what is happening in the cabin.
His decision was applauded by the Air Transport Association, the trade organization for the major airlines. The airlines say passengers may be endangered by introducing guns in the cockpits.
But the issue is not over, with the dispute now moving to Congress. Bills have been introduced in both the House and Senate to allow pilots to carry firearms. Among the sponsors is Rep. Bob Smith, R-N.H.
"The pilots want this program," Smith said after Magaw's decision. "And the American people want additional means to be protected against future contemplated acts of terrorism. Armed pilots are the first line of deterrence and the last line of defense."
Some members of Maine's congressional delegation have mixed views of the bills in Congress. Sen. Susan Collins said she would support the measure, as long as pilots were properly trained.
"Not only would the possibility of facing an armed pilot be a deterrent to any would-be hijackers," she said, "but an armed pilot might have been able to prevent or mitigate some of the tragic events of Sept. 11."
Rep. John Baldacci, a member of the House Aviation Subcommittee, said he doesn't favor arming pilots at this time. Baldacci said he wanted to give other measures, including upgraded baggage screening, a chance to work.
SIGARMS Academy has two more series of courses for pilots and flight crews scheduled this year - one later this week and the other in mid-December. The school would like to attract more flight attendants to the seminars. Aside from time and money constraints, the popularity of the courses may hinge on how the firearms debate is resolved in Washington.
Fred Dambrie said he hopes Congress will side with the pilots. Arming pilots isn't the total answer to better airline security, he agreed, but it's a crucial part of the equation.
"Security is like an onion," he said. "It's a layered thing. And you have to assume some of those layers are going to fail."
Staff Writer Tux Turkel can be contacted at 791-6462 or at:
tturkel@pressherald.com
http://www.portland.com/news/state/020602pilots.shtml
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
By TUX TURKEL, Portland Press Herald Writer
Copyright c 2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
E-mail this story to a friend
ADVERTISEMENT
Staff photo by Fred J. Field
De Bethencourt demonstrates how to escape from various holds during a hand-to-hand defense course.
EPPING, N.H. - Commercial airline pilots undergo extensive training to do their jobs. Learning how to kill or * an attacker, by breaking his neck or spinal column, was not part of the program. Until now.
"I've got eight hours to teach you how to kill," Michael de Bethencourt told eight pilots last week at SIGARMS Academy.
SIGARMS Academy is a 12-year-old offshoot of SIGARMS, a Swiss gun maker that has a manufacturing and distribution plant in Epping. An adjunct staff instructor, de Bethencourt was teaching a seminar called "Subject control in confined spaces for pilots and flight crews."
In attendance were eight commercial airline pilots, including two with ties to Maine. After completing the one-day course in hand-to-hand defense, some of the pilots would stay for a second day. That's when they learned how to defend an aircraft using semi-automatic pistols and revolvers.
Two weeks ago, the Bush administration decided against allowing pilots to carry guns on commercial airplanes. It said pilots should concentrate on flying and let trained air marshals defend against possible terrorist attacks, like the suicide hijackings of Sept. 11.
The eight pilots gathered here last week ridiculed that decision, and sought self-defense and weapons training, anyway.
"It would be very difficult for me to concentrate on my flying when some guy is trying to slit my throat open," said Fred Dambrie, a Portland native who lives in Jackson, N.H.
Dambrie and his colleagues say they are the last line of defense against airborne terrorism. And if they are trusted to fly a $50 million airplane filled with hundreds of passengers, they should be responsible enough to carry firearms.
That's why, despite opposition from the government and the airlines, thousands of pilots like Dambrie are lobbying to carry weapons in the cockpit. While the debate continues, hundreds of pilots are spending their own money on self-defense and firearm training courses, such as the ones at SIGARMS Academy.
"The key," said Joe Kalil, a pilot from Kentucky and technical research chairman of the Airline Pilots Security Alliance, "is that 3,000 people wouldn't have died on Sept. 11 if eight pilots hadn't been killed."
The alliance is pushing a three-point approach that includes improving airport security, upgrading aircraft, and arming trained, willing airline pilots with handguns. A grassroots organization formed after Sept. 11, the alliance helped organize the pilots who came to the three-day course at SIGARMS Academy. The pilots stressed that they came on their own time. They declined to state which airlines they fly for, saying they feared retribution.
SIGARMS Academy has offered these aircraft-defense courses twice since January. More than 40 people have attended, many of them pilots who fly out of Portland, Boston and Manchester, N.H. Others have come from around the country. The firearms courses are $99 each. The hand-defense course costs $19.95, a discounted price designed to attract interest.
The eight pilots who sat around tables last week in de Bethencourt's classroom during a day of hand-defense training were acutely interested. With handguns banned for now, the pilots were eager for other means of defending their airplanes.
De Bethencourt has the credentials to teach them. A martial arts expert and internationally recognized instructor with the tactical folding knife, he has trained more than 1,000 law-enforcement officers.
De Bethencourt took time to explain the legal considerations of using deadly force. He then outlined the physiological requirements for stopping an attacker, either through massive blood loss or crippling the central nervous system.
It was the latter technique that the pilots would learn, because it's the one they could do with their bare hands. For the rest of the day they would concentrate on variations of a single tactic, building confidence that they could carry out the mechanics of this lethal move in a life-or-death situation.
The tactic appears simple. The pilot grabs the back of the attacker's head and forces it down. Using both hands, he then applies a deliberate, quick twist to break the neck or spine. The entire procedure takes a second or two.
"The lower the head is," de Bethencourt told the men, "the more curvature on the spine, and the easier it is to put pressure on the spinal column."
Of course, putting this deadly neck twist on a determined assailant takes skill and practice. De Bethencourt showed the group how to block blows, neutralize weapons and overcome attacks in different situations, and how to force an assailant into a position where deadly force could be applied. A key technique involved grabbing and crushing a male attacker's testicles, to make him double over.
"Oh, that's gotta hurt!" de Bethencourt exclaimed as the class practiced the technique as part of the exercise.
During breaks, the pilots talked about the seminar and their wider concerns for airline safety.
John Kane lives in North Hampton, N.H., and flies out of Logan Airport in Boston. He knew the pilots on the doomed flights that took off from Boston on Sept. 11, recalling one as a strong, former Navy pilot who could handle almost anything.
Kane said the seminar will give him more practical knowledge to defend his plane. He had already been taking karate courses near his home.
"A gun would be nice," Kane said, "because I'm responsible. No one else is wearing the four stripes. And if it comes down to us, we can't afford to lose."
Fred Dambrie and his pilot son, Joe, also had prior training. Fred took a four-day handgun course earlier this year in Nevada. Joe, a Portland resident, is a former Marine with martial arts experience. Both said they were finding the SIGARMS Academy course valuable.
"I want to get better," Fred Dambrie said. "It's going to teach me stuff I'd rather not learn. I've got five years left in my career. If someone told me a year ago we'd be dealing with this, I wouldn't have believed them."
In lieu of a handgun, Dambrie has begun carrying a four-cell metal flashlight on board.
"It's my club," he said.
Kalil, the pilots' organizer, is a former Army helicopter pilot and a firearms instructor. He stressed that his group wants to arm only pilots who choose to carry guns, who undergo careful screening and who agree to take FBI training courses.
Many people don't realize, he noted, that commercial pilots were allowed to carry guns until 1987. That's when a former airline employee broke into a cockpit over California and shot both pilots. Forty-three people died. The Federal Aviation Administration banned guns soon after.
Following Sept. 11, many pilots concluded that it was time to overturn that ban.
But two weeks ago, U.S. Transportation Undersecretary John Magaw ruled otherwise. He told a Senate committee that air marshals are better equipped to safely handle guns on airplanes. The pilots, behind newly strengthened cockpit doors, can steer the aircraft to throw hijackers off balance, he said. Magaw also suggested planes should have cameras installed so pilots can see what is happening in the cabin.
His decision was applauded by the Air Transport Association, the trade organization for the major airlines. The airlines say passengers may be endangered by introducing guns in the cockpits.
But the issue is not over, with the dispute now moving to Congress. Bills have been introduced in both the House and Senate to allow pilots to carry firearms. Among the sponsors is Rep. Bob Smith, R-N.H.
"The pilots want this program," Smith said after Magaw's decision. "And the American people want additional means to be protected against future contemplated acts of terrorism. Armed pilots are the first line of deterrence and the last line of defense."
Some members of Maine's congressional delegation have mixed views of the bills in Congress. Sen. Susan Collins said she would support the measure, as long as pilots were properly trained.
"Not only would the possibility of facing an armed pilot be a deterrent to any would-be hijackers," she said, "but an armed pilot might have been able to prevent or mitigate some of the tragic events of Sept. 11."
Rep. John Baldacci, a member of the House Aviation Subcommittee, said he doesn't favor arming pilots at this time. Baldacci said he wanted to give other measures, including upgraded baggage screening, a chance to work.
SIGARMS Academy has two more series of courses for pilots and flight crews scheduled this year - one later this week and the other in mid-December. The school would like to attract more flight attendants to the seminars. Aside from time and money constraints, the popularity of the courses may hinge on how the firearms debate is resolved in Washington.
Fred Dambrie said he hopes Congress will side with the pilots. Arming pilots isn't the total answer to better airline security, he agreed, but it's a crucial part of the equation.
"Security is like an onion," he said. "It's a layered thing. And you have to assume some of those layers are going to fail."
Staff Writer Tux Turkel can be contacted at 791-6462 or at:
tturkel@pressherald.com
http://www.portland.com/news/state/020602pilots.shtml
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878