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Pilots spar with agency over firearms training
Josey1
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Pilots spar with agency over firearms training
Accessibility of classesfor gun use is disputed
By Leslie Miller, Associated Press, 8/27/2003
WASHINGTON -- The government says its training program to arm commercial airline pilots is now at full capacity and it expects within a year to train all qualified pilots who volunteer to carry guns.
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Pilots disagree, and held news conferences yesterday to say the Transportation Security Administration is discouraging them from signing up by requiring background and psychological checks, ordering pilots to carry guns in lockboxes, and holding the training at a single remote site.
"We estimate 40,000 pilots would volunteer if it were properly managed by the TSA," said Captain Bob Lambert, president of the Airline Pilots' Security Alliance, speaking at a news conference yesterday. Pilots are trying to pressure the Bush administration to move ahead quickly with the training program.
John Moran, who heads the government's training program, said the TSA's training is meeting the demand of pilots who want to carry a weapon.
"The great majority of those who have volunteered will be trained within a year," Moran said at a news conference at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Full classes of 48 each are booked through the end of next month, he said, and the agency plans to double its classes in January.
Another member of the pilots security group, Captain Phillip Beall, says 10,000 of his fellow airline pilots should have been given guns by now and trained to use them while in the cockpit. Instead, he said, fewer than 200 have weapons because the agency in charge of arming pilots is dragging its feet.
Brian Turmail, a TSA spokesman, rejects the claim that the agency isn't moving fast enough. He said the TSA quickly created a training program and application process for pilots, and now that those elements are established, the pace of training will pick up.
Pilots lobbied Congress hard last year, arguing that guns would allow them to supplement air marshals, who cover only a small percentage of the 35,000 daily flights in the United States. The TSA, seeking to address a budget shortfall of nearly $1 billion, froze air marshal hiring in May.
The agency had opposed arming pilots, believing that tighter airport security, bulletproof cockpit doors, and more vigilant passengers made it unnecessary. Critics also said adding guns to airplanes was inherently dangerous.
But after it became obvious that Congress would support the program, TSA chief James Loy reluctantly went along.
Pilots who volunteer for the program take a week of classes, weapons instruction, and hand-to-hand combat drills at a federal law enforcement training center. Background checks and psychological testing also are conducted.
Lambert said that at the current rate of 50 pilots a week, it will take 15 years to arm the estimated 40,000 pilots who want to carry guns.
The first 44 pilots to complete the program were designated "flight deck officers" on April 19 and began flying with weapons. The second class finished last month, and now classes are conducted weekly.
An upcoming move to a training center in Artesia, N.M., from Glynco, Ga., will allow the agency to train more pilots, Turmail said. Many pilots don't like the new location because it's difficult to get to.
Former congressman Bob Barr, a Georgia Republican, is backing the pilots' campaign.
"The government is throwing roadblocks in the way of fulfilling what was a very clear congressional mandate," Barr said. "If the White House would simply make a clear statement that this must be done, it dramatically improves the chances of it happening."
c Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2003/08/27/pilots_spar_with_agency_over_firearms_training/
"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<P>
Accessibility of classesfor gun use is disputed
By Leslie Miller, Associated Press, 8/27/2003
WASHINGTON -- The government says its training program to arm commercial airline pilots is now at full capacity and it expects within a year to train all qualified pilots who volunteer to carry guns.
ADVERTISEMENT
Pilots disagree, and held news conferences yesterday to say the Transportation Security Administration is discouraging them from signing up by requiring background and psychological checks, ordering pilots to carry guns in lockboxes, and holding the training at a single remote site.
"We estimate 40,000 pilots would volunteer if it were properly managed by the TSA," said Captain Bob Lambert, president of the Airline Pilots' Security Alliance, speaking at a news conference yesterday. Pilots are trying to pressure the Bush administration to move ahead quickly with the training program.
John Moran, who heads the government's training program, said the TSA's training is meeting the demand of pilots who want to carry a weapon.
"The great majority of those who have volunteered will be trained within a year," Moran said at a news conference at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Full classes of 48 each are booked through the end of next month, he said, and the agency plans to double its classes in January.
Another member of the pilots security group, Captain Phillip Beall, says 10,000 of his fellow airline pilots should have been given guns by now and trained to use them while in the cockpit. Instead, he said, fewer than 200 have weapons because the agency in charge of arming pilots is dragging its feet.
Brian Turmail, a TSA spokesman, rejects the claim that the agency isn't moving fast enough. He said the TSA quickly created a training program and application process for pilots, and now that those elements are established, the pace of training will pick up.
Pilots lobbied Congress hard last year, arguing that guns would allow them to supplement air marshals, who cover only a small percentage of the 35,000 daily flights in the United States. The TSA, seeking to address a budget shortfall of nearly $1 billion, froze air marshal hiring in May.
The agency had opposed arming pilots, believing that tighter airport security, bulletproof cockpit doors, and more vigilant passengers made it unnecessary. Critics also said adding guns to airplanes was inherently dangerous.
But after it became obvious that Congress would support the program, TSA chief James Loy reluctantly went along.
Pilots who volunteer for the program take a week of classes, weapons instruction, and hand-to-hand combat drills at a federal law enforcement training center. Background checks and psychological testing also are conducted.
Lambert said that at the current rate of 50 pilots a week, it will take 15 years to arm the estimated 40,000 pilots who want to carry guns.
The first 44 pilots to complete the program were designated "flight deck officers" on April 19 and began flying with weapons. The second class finished last month, and now classes are conducted weekly.
An upcoming move to a training center in Artesia, N.M., from Glynco, Ga., will allow the agency to train more pilots, Turmail said. Many pilots don't like the new location because it's difficult to get to.
Former congressman Bob Barr, a Georgia Republican, is backing the pilots' campaign.
"The government is throwing roadblocks in the way of fulfilling what was a very clear congressional mandate," Barr said. "If the White House would simply make a clear statement that this must be done, it dramatically improves the chances of it happening."
c Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2003/08/27/pilots_spar_with_agency_over_firearms_training/
"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<P>
Comments
Confiscations rise at Miami airport
By INA PAIVA CORDLE
icordle@herald.com
HAVE GUN, NO TRAVEL: Richard Thomas, acting federal security director for the Transportation Security Administration at Miami International Airport, shows a speargun that was confiscated from an airline passenger. NURI VALLBONA/HERALD STAFF
Last month, a man with a hacksaw blade within his shoes tried to get past a checkpoint at Miami International Airport. In January, a passenger hid a gun inside a DVD player in his carry-on.
Miami International ranks among the top three airports in the nation for its volume of intercepted items, as passengers still try to board planes with hundreds of concealed weapons each day, said Richard Thomas, acting federal security director for the Transportation Security Administration at MIA.
The airport has also been the target of specific intelligence threats during the past seven months, though none of the threats have been verified, Thomas said.
''Typically, it's the airports with high international traffic that have the biggest volume of confiscations,'' Thomas said, citing Los Angeles International and New York's John F. Kennedy International, along with Miami.
But smaller, mostly domestic Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International is not exempt from concealed weapons. Earlier this month, screeners confiscated a stun gun disguised as a cellphone at a checkpoint there, and they also have intercepted knives, guns and other prohibited items, said TSA spokeswoman Lauren Stover.
Nationwide, nearly two years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the number of confiscated weapons is showing no signs of tapering off.
July marked a record across the country for the number of prohibited items: 640,891. That surpassed the highest previous month, June, which generated 597,310 items.
At MIA, a traveler once attempted to bring a container of gasoline aboard a flight, and another passenger carried a lighter that turned into a knife. That's in addition to spear guns, blowguns, dart guns and souvenir machetes that passengers regularly tote through security.
Several passengers, including the man who had the hacksaw blade inside his shoe and the other with a gun inside his DVD player, have been prosecuted, Thomas said. The vast majority of travelers don't bring the items with the intention of harming anyone, he said. Passengers are usually either infrequent international travelers who are unaware of security rules or connecting travelers returning from international trips with souvenir knives and other prohibited items, he said.
Overall since February 2002, when the TSA assumed responsibility for screening, more than 7.5 million items have been intercepted nationwide, Thomas said. Among them: nearly 1,500 firearms, almost 2.3 million knives and 49,331 box cutters.
With Labor Day approaching, the TSA is advising passengers to remove their shoes when they pass through the checkpoint to avoid the need for secondary screening and to pull out any electronic items from their carry-on baggage.
Recent intelligence reports have indicated that terrorists may try to conceal weapons in electronic equipment, so screeners are paying extra attention to cellphones, CD players, radios, cameras and flash attachments, keyless lock openers and laptop computers.
The TSA also recommends that passengers arrive early at the airport and place undeveloped film in carry-on bags. Travelers should also leave checked baggage unlocked and avoid overstuffing checked bags.
''Overstuffed bags are more difficult to close once opened, which could result in delays for checked luggage,'' Thomas said.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/6624982.htm
"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<P>
They call for faster way to process applicants
By Meredith Cohn
Sun Staff
Originally published August 27, 2003
WASHINGTON - In a series of protests yesterday at several airports around the country, including Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, pilots complained that federal officials are moving too slowly in allowing them to carry guns in the cockpit - a hotly debated change that Congress approved after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks nearly two years ago.
The Airline Pilots' Security Alliance, a group formed since the attacks to advocate air travel safety measures, said that less than 200 of 40,000 passenger and cargo pilots who want the voluntary training have completed the required course.
The 40,000 figure is about a third of the nation's 120,000 commercial pilots, although that includes about 35,000 cargo pilots who do not qualify for the program.
The pilots say they have strong backing from members of Congress, including Sens. Jim Bunning of Kentucky, a Republican, and Democrat Barbara Boxer of California, and GOP Reps. John L. Mica of Florida and Don Young of Alaska.
"I haven't gone through the program, and I don't want to under these circumstances," said David Mackett, a Baltimore-based pilot and executive vice president of the alliance. "The [Transportation Security Agency] has made the process too onerous."
The federal Transportation Security Agency, however, said it has proceeded responsibly with a program that puts lethal weapons aboard airplanes.
Chris Rhatigan, a spokeswoman for the agency, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, said she believes that the public largely supports arming pilots but said the process should not be hurried.
Pilots are being trained as federal flight deck officers, which gives them the right to carry lethal weapons, she said, and it was "common sense" for the agency to do its own extensive testing and training.
The pilots' group, however, called on the agency to modify its procedures to speed the training.
Mackett said pilots must pay their own way and take their own time for a one-week training course in Georgia and are subjected to extensive psychological and background testing. The evaluation, he said, appeared to be repeat testing that the pilots have already passed to become commercial pilots.
He said he has a list of 20 pilots who were rejected for the program to be deputized as federal flight deck officers and many more have refused to apply.
The federal agency held the first training class in April and declined, for security reasons, to reveal how many have completed the program.
Rhatigan said the program began in February with $25 million, and the agency has spent $8 million on training so far. Congress allocated another $25 million for training pilots in 2004, she said.
She said the training would soon move to a new facility in southeast New Mexico where more pilots can be trained in realistic situations.
"Every week since mid-July we've graduated a new class," she said. "This is a voluntary program, and first off, not everyone graduates.
"This is not a cookie-cutter solution. It's a well-thought-out program. They go through extensive background and psychological testing before training and it's very rigorous training physically and mentally. We need to put them in an environment where they feel comfortable with a firearm."
John R. Lott, who has studied gun control as a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, questioned the necessity of the agency's approach during the pilots' press conference at Reagan airport. About 70 percent of commercial pilots are former members of the military and already trained to use weapons, Lott said.
Bob Lambert, president of the Airline Pilots' Security Alliance, added that the terrorist threats remain and that only a small fraction of the 35,000 daily U.S. flights are accompanied by armed federal air marshals.
"It's been almost two years since the attacks of Sept. 11, and we only have less than 150 pilots approved to carry a firearm," he said.
"While the Department of Homeland Security warns that al-Qaeda has threatened to use commercial aviation here in the United States and abroad to further their cause, their colleagues at [the transportation agency] are preventing the fastest and most effective deterrent, which is to arm pilots in the cockpit as a last line of defense against an attack," Lambert said.
Copyright c 2003, The Baltimore Sun | Get home delivery
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"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<P>