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WASHINGTON

House panel OKs bill to arm pilots
By SHIRA KANTOR
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune
June 26, 2002

WASHINGTON - A bill to arm a small percentage of commercial pilots for a test period of two years passed the House Transportation Committee on Wednesday.

Strongly opposed by the White House, the proposal would at first allow 250 trained volunteer pilots to carry weapons into airplane cockpits to defend their planes in the case of a hijacking. By the end of the two years, the number of pilots would climb to as many as 2,000 - about 2 percent of commercial pilots in the United States.

The Transportation Security Administration, which earlier this year said it opposed firearms on airplanes, would determine whether to discontinue the program or keep pilots armed after assessing the two-year test, under the bill.

Rep. James Oberstar of Minnesota, the top-ranked Democrat on the committee, had initially sided with the TSA, saying guns on commercial flights posed too great a risk. But Oberstar said he changed his mind because he's now convinced the experiment can be done safely.

Oberstar said pilots should be disarmed once a full "web of security" is in place. Those include reinforced cockpit doors, explosives screening for all checked luggage - as well as matching that luggage with passengers on board - and staffing all flights with federal air marshals.

Capt. John Hale, a pilot for American Airlines, called the bill "a step in the right direction."

But while many pilots support the measure, several airlines have spoken out against it. And the Association of Flight Attendants criticized the House bill for failing to address defense training for crew members.

"Giving guns to pilots without specific cabin defense requirements for airlines could be deadly for flight attendants and passengers," AFA president Patricia Friend said. "It also does nothing to help flight attendants thwart a threat to the cockpit, which must come from a hijacker in the cabin."

But Hale said a gun in the cockpit is better than nothing.

"How silly would we feel if another plane were hijacked," he asked, "knowing that we could have taken steps to stop it?"