Pilots decry requirement to carry guns in locked boxes when not in cockpit
An initiative to arm volunteer U.S. airline pilots with handguns took a major step forward last week when Adm. James Loy, head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), approved the program’s selection, training and operational details.
The program immediately encountered flack from pilot associations, who criticized the TSA’s requirement that pilots carry guns to and from their aircraft in lockboxes, rather than in concealed holsters. Once inside a locked cockpit, the boxes could be opened and the pilots would then carry their handguns in holsters.
The notion of arming pilots arose in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against unarmed pilots. TSA officials had earlier rejected the proposals of various pilots’ groups that volunteer pilots should be allowed handguns in the cockpit (see ASW, May 27, 2002). However, the pilots’ lobbying effort prevailed over the objections of the Bush administration, and Congress passed the Arming Pilots Against Terrorism Act as part of the legislation establishing the Department of Homeland Security. To get the new department up and running quickly, President Bush was forced to accept as part of the package the armed pilot program. The act required the TSA to develop a training program by Feb. 25 addressing not only handgun training, but also how the guns would be transported and stowed and, on those flights with federal air marshals (FAMs), how the armed pilots, designated FFDOs [federal flight deck officers] would interact with them.
On Feb. 24 Loy signed an action memorandum that culminated two months of negotiations with government and industry representatives, including the airlines and pilots unions. Capt. Mike Cronin of the Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations (CAPA), recounted that the negotiations resulted in changes the pilots sought to the TSA’s original concept. Specifically, the TSA originally proposed revolvers and 40 hours of training. The pilots sought and gained TSA approval for automatic pistols and 45 hours of training.
The first class of 48 pilots to become FFDOs is expected to begin training in the next few weeks.
In the meantime, the TSA’s requirement for pilots to carry their guns through airports in lockboxes was sharply criticized by some of the program’s advocates. Capt. Dennis Dolan, head of a security task force for the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) raised the specter of a double standard.
“The issue of weapon carriage … has tremendous practical implications,” Dolan said. “Every day, thousands of LEOs [law enforcement officers] fly as passengers on our aircraft with their weapons safety secured on their person. Personally carrying a weapon means less chance of loss, theft or accidents.”
“Alternatively, a situation in which the FFDO is required to relinquish control of the weapon and have it stowed out of his or her sight creates the potential for all three problems,” Dolan asserted. ALPA registered its complaints in a letter the same day Loy signed off on the program.
Capt. Tracy Price of the Airline Pilots’ Security Alliance (APSA) also weighed in with a statement characterizing the TSA implementation plan as “flirting with disaster.” The statement decried the off-body carry method dictated by the TSA. “There is over 80 years of study … [and] the safest method is on the body. Why is the TSA ignoring this data?”
One source suggested that by requiring FFDO’s to carry their weapons in a lockbox they would not need training to perform a law enforcement function outside of the cockpit.
“We can only assume it is lack of knowledge of aircraft operations or a deliberate attempt to make the program so unworkable that no one will volunteer. Intelligence we receive from ATA (Air Transport Association) briefings indicate the latter may be the predominant reason,” the APSA statement surmised.
Airlines have been reluctant if not actively opposed to any “guns in the cockpit” initiative. ATA President and CEO Jim May shrewdly avoided the controversy while inferring support for the lockbox concept, saying, “Our initial reservations notwithstanding, this is a Transportation Security Administration issue and they are handling it in a responsible manner.”
APSA apprehends an onerous screening process will be put in place to further discourage pilots from volunteering for the FFDO program. “They plan to impose a multi-step, obstacle-filled minefield that, combined with their self-granted power to revoke a pilot’s certificate, will surely reduce the number of volunteers, and thus reduce the deterrent value of the FFDO program,” the APSA statement warned darkly.
Less hyperbolic but perhaps more to the point, Capt. Steve Luckey, chairman of ALPA’s national security committee, said, “Our position is that the FFDO candidate selection process should mirror that used for other federal law enforcement officers. We will oppose any selection process that is more stringent than that used for federal LEOs.”
“However,” Luckey added, “the methodology that the TSA opts to use will likely not be fully known until after the initial class of 48 students has been chosen.”
“This is so because the TSA may very well decide to alter its selection criteria based on its experience with the first class,” he said.
The program’s funding fate following the first class also is problematic, according to Cronin. “TSA has identified the money for the first class in March but has no idea where the money will come from for the second class.”
“Even if the money is found, TSA is not likely to train more than 700 pilots this fiscal year,” he predicted. Cronin said the training costs appear to be inflated as a ploy to kill the program. “TSA estimates the training cost per pilot is $10,000,” Cronin said. “We find that laughable and think $1,500 is a more realistic figure.”
One of the issues still to be resolved involves non-lethal weapons instead of handguns. United Airlines [UAL] and Mesa Airlines [MESA] have applied to the TSA for authority to equip their pilots with Taser stun guns. United officials believe arming pilots with non-lethal stun guns is an appropriate compromise between handguns and no protective equipment (see ASW, April 15, 2002).
Advocates of handguns say stun guns cannot be depended upon to defeat a determined attacker. Bullets work better than high voltage electrons. The gun advocates, Luckey among them, point to the case earlier this year where a suicidal man withstood the shock of a stun gun and leaped off an overpass to his death.
As part of the FFDO program approved last week, the TSA said it “shall continue evaluating the feasibility of using less-then-lethal weapons in the cockpit and cabin of air carrier aircraft.”
The criteria for approving requests to deploy less-then-lethal weapons will be established as part of this evaluation.
Method of Transport
An FFDO [federal flight deck officer] shall transport his/her firearm in the following manner:
1. The firearm shall be contained in the TSA approved/issued holster and,
2. The holstered firearm shall be carried in the TSA approved/issued carry case or lockbox and,
3. The approved carry case or lockbox shall be placed inside a nondescript bag.
When traveling on flights on which an FFDO is not the pilot in command or second in command (i.e., not engaged in FFDO duties, but deadheading and/or commuting), the FFDO shall store his/her firearm in the aircraft cargo hold in the secure condition described above.
At planeside, the FFDO is to hand over his/her bag containing the weapon to air carrier ground personnel and personally observe its placement in the hold of the aircraft. At the destination point, the FFDO is to reclaim his/her bag at planeside from the air carrier ground station personnel. At no time should the bag containing the firearm be submitted as conventional checked baggage that would travel to the aircraft outside the view of the FFDO.
Source: TSA Action Memorandum, Establishment of the Federal Flight Deck Officer Program, Feb. 25
‘We Do Not Support’
ALPA Pres. Duane Woerth Feb. 24 letter to TSA head Adm. James Loy (extracts):
We do not support … the proposed requirement that the FFDO be separated from his or her weapon whenever they are not operating the aircraft.
Please consider the following:
- The potential for theft of weapons from checked bags is so great that most law enforcement agencies mandate that their officers carry their weapons aboard aircraft, regardless of whether they actually have jurisdiction or a ‘need’ for the weapon in the cabin.
- If the TSA becomes aware that a weapon has been stolen from an FFDO’s bag … what actions will be necessary to ensure that the weapon does not pose a hijack threat?
- Will it be necessary to evacuate all people?
- If the weapon is never found, how will TSA determine that the weapon is not within the secured area?
- If the TSA’s proposal is enacted, many pilots’ bags stowed in the cargo hold of an aircraft will contain a weapon, which will make it easy for someone who wishes to steal a firearm to locate one.
- If an FFDO’s weapon is stolen while in the control of the airline and out of the FFDO’s immediate possession, which is liable – the airline, the TSA, or both?
The concerns listed above overwhelmingly point to the need for a better means of weapons transport … we recommend, as we have from our initial meetings with the TSA, that the weapon be carried on the FFDO’s person.