By James Pilcher
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The concept of airline pilots carrying firearms in the cockpit is just a president's signature away from becoming reality.

The Senate late Tuesday passed the Homeland Security Act, the bill that will create the new Homeland Security Department. The legislation includes a provision allowing commercial airline pilots who volunteer for a training program to carry guns, and to create a program to train and provide them with weapons.

RULES IN HOLDING PATTERN

The Transportation Security Administration Wednesday said it had backed off a Dec. 1 deadline to impose tougher security rules on large charter planes that transport large groups such as sports teams, orchestras and vacationers. The rules were to require passenger and bag screening for anyone onboard a chartered plane that weighs more than 95,000 pounds, about the size of a Boeing 727. But agency spokeswoman Heather Rosenker said a new set of rules to implement tougher security would be issued in "a few weeks," and charter companies will be given 30 days after that to comply. The first set of proposed rule changes elicited thousands of responses, including some from major sports leagues including the National Football League, National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball. "We got a lot of excellent comments and want to make certain we address all those concerns with our new plan," Ms. Rosenker said. "To put it into perspective, we're basically starting from scratch here. Before Sept. 11, there were no rules whatsoever." Since Sept. 11, the agency has begun requiring background checks of pilots and ground crews for all charter operations, regardless of size. Those traveling on charter planes smaller than 95,000 pounds would not be affected by the new rules.

That bill is headed for the White House to be signed by President Bush as soon as possible, probably sometime next week when he returns from Europe.

Arming pilots represents a reversal of positions for the Bush administration, which spent the first half of this year opposing the concept.

`Pretty ecstatic'

"We're pretty ecstatic since, quite honestly, we were facing big government, big business and big money," said Marc Feigenblatt, a major airline pilot from Anderson Township who is also the vice chairman of the Airline Pilots Security Alliance, a coalition of airline pilots which has fought for guns in the cockpit for almost a year.

"We had very little funding, but we had a lot of enthusiasm from volunteers and the support of the American people."

$2,000 price tag

Mr. Feigenblatt said his organization estimates that the cost would be about $2,000 a pilot, with those costs to be picked up by the Transportation Security Administration.

He added that he expected more than half of the country's 60,000-plus commercial airline pilots to volunteer for training.

"I wouldn't be surprised to see 70-80 percent," Mr. Feigenblatt said.

Agency spokeswoman Heather Rosenker said not all the details have been worked out but that the TSA had already begun planning for such a project and would meet the 90-day deadline for installing a program.

Cargo pilots exempt

The proposed law would exempt cargo pilots, such as the ones who fly for DHL Worldwide Express, the international air freight company that operates its domestic hub locally at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

Officials with that company's pilot union were not available for comment, but Mr. Feigenblatt and officials with the Air Line Pilots Association, the nation's largest pilot union, expressed severe disappointment at the last-minute exclusion and vowed to fight to get those pilots included in the program.

"We are absolutely 100 percent committed to coming back for the next Congress and getting this loophole fixed," Mr. Feigenblatt said.

"What difference does it make whether it's a cargo or passenger plane which crashes into a monument or population center?"

E-mail jpilcher@enquirer.com