Tuesday, March 05, 2002
Pilots want to be armed in the air
Government agencies undecided
By James Pilcher, jpilcher@enquirer.com
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Marc Feigenblatt readily admits that he knows firearms — he's a former military officer who's trained extensively on how to shoot a handgun.
But the veteran pilot also says his quest to allow fellow airline pilots to arm themselves in the cockpit is “not some pro-gun, NRA, Second Amendment issue.”
“This is like putting us on an airplane, then having a fire with no fire extinguisher to put it out,” said Mr. Feigenblatt, 44, of Anderson Township, who flies Boeing 727s.
Mr. Feigenblatt is not alone among airline pilots wanting to carry guns to their “office.” The idea also has support throughout pilot ranks, as shown by a recent poll conducted by the nation's largest pilots union, the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents 67,000 pilots worldwide. The poll of 1,050 ALPA members found that 73 percent of those asked favored guns in the cockpit.
The union Friday submitted a petition asking for the Transportation Department to issue a ruling allowing guns in the cockpit.
And Mr. Feigenblatt says the support within the pilot ranks goes beyond just ALPA. He is vice chairman of the Airline Pilots' Security Alliance, a coalition of pilots that Mr. Feigenblatt says has about 6,000 members nationally and includes members from all major airlines and pilot unions.
“This is truly a grass-roots organization, and we only have one goal right now,” said Mr. Feigenblatt, who requested that his employer not be named, for fear of disciplinary action. The same request was made by other pilots interviewed for this story. “This is all about deterring another attack ... making terrorists think twice about trying something like Sept. 11 again.”
The idea also appears to have support among area residents, according to a recent poll by SurveyUSA Research that was commissioned by WCPO-TV. The telephone poll of 500 Greater Cincinnati residents found that 73 percent were in favor of allowing airline pilots to carry guns in the cockpit, with 19 percent against and 8 percent not sure. The poll had a 4.1 percentage-point margin of error and found that 94 percent are in favor of allowing electric stun guns, or “Tasers.”
Even the Federal Aviation Administration and the newly created Transportation Security Administration are weighing what to do about the issue. The FAA last month concluded a public comment period about weapons on planes and collected more than 7,200 responses.
Meanwhile, individual airlines have begun tackling the issue of security and defense onboard jetliners. United Airlines last week said it would begin training its crews in the use of the nonlethal electric stun guns, with hopes that they would be deployed by July.
Other airlines, including local stalwarts Delta Air Lines and Comair, have begun developing training programs for flight attendants and pilots to defend against terrorist attacks, as called for by the new aviation security law enacted in November.
None of the training programs includes options for arming flight attendants with either nonlethal or deadly weapons, however, raising the ire of many flight attendants and their primary union, the Association of Flight Attendants.
The issue of whether to allow lethal weapons onboard a jetliner, even for pilots exclusively, remains one of the thorniest.
Issue examined
The aviation law that created the new security administration called for the issue to be examined. The National Institute of Justice has completed a study, but federal officials have yet to release the results.
The law leaves the decision to the head of the agency, John Magaw. It also calls for the approval of an individual airline before it can be implemented there.
“The TSA has no stand yet, since we've just gotten all the comments in,” Transportation Security Administration spokesman Jim Mitchell said. “And I would not expect a decision any time soon.”
Other government officials have recently expressed doubt about arming pilots. Monday, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said he opposed firearms on airliners but said he was in favor of nonlethal weapons such as stun guns.
“But that's my personal opinion, and there has not been a determination,” he said.
Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge also said he was against guns in the cockpit in Monday's editions of USA Today, and the paper said the Bush administration shares that thinking.
Mr. Feigenblatt and others involved in the push to allow pilots to carry guns say they want their program to be voluntary, require extensive screening and training, and put strict limits on when a gun could be drawn.
“This would be the ultimate last resort,” Mr. Feigenblatt says. “The only way we consider using a gun is if the cockpit door is being breached. We don't want to be cowboys looking to go out and have a shootout in the cabin.
Joe Kalil, a 727 pilot from Florence, is a member of the pilot coalition's technical committee, and he says pilots also must be able to use standard bullets. Some previous suggestions have included “frangible” bullets that would damage soft tissue but would disintegrate after hitting something solid such as metal, but Mr. Kalil said such bullets might not stop a determined attacker.
Pilots lobbying
Pro-gun pilots say they have made headway with several members of Congress. They have submitted a letter signed by 62 U.S. representatives to Mr. Mineta.
But opponents of the proposal say allowing any firearm onboard a plane is asking for disaster. Arguments include the possibility of a stray bullet causing a malfunction in the plane's hydraulics, or perhaps poking a hole in the hull or a window that could suck all the air out of the plane (pro-gun pilots say this is unlikely, given that they can adjust air pressure).
“We need to be focused on securing the cockpit door, and then the pilots can perform their primary function, which is landing the plane,” said Andy Davis, spokesman for Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., who co-wrote the aviation security law.
The airline industry's trade group, the Air Transport Association, says it doesn't have an official position on the issue, but says individual airlines are skeptical. Four airlines — Southwest, cargo carrier Atlas Air, United and Midwest — all submitted comments to the FAA against firearms in the cockpit.
“The general consensus is that they are not looking favorably on arming pilots,” ATA spokesman Michael Wascom said.
Delta spokeswoman Kristi Tucker said that “while Delta does not rule out any reasonable option, we feel arming pilots with lethal or nonlethal weapons is premature at this time. We continue to evaluate the concept.”
Pro-gun pilots such as Dirk Vander Ende of Edgewood, who flies MD-88s, say the recent discoveries in Afghanistan of terrorist training manuals and plans to carry out further attacks have strengthened their cause.
“They won't let me carry a weapon, ... even though it would mean exercising the kind of responsibility we exercise every day.”
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