Airline Pilots Set to Finish Gun Course

By LESLIE MILLER
.c The Associated Press

GLYNCO, Ga. (AP) – As many as 46 commercial airline pilots could be flying

with semiautomatic pistols on their hips beginning this Sunday.

That’s if they all manage to make it through a rigorous week of training
that
ends Saturday at a federal law enforcement training center. Two had
already
washed out by Thursday. The rest sported bruises, bumps and cuts after
intense one-on-one drills in fending off a terrorist.

“They’re fighting and shooting,” said Capt. Steve Luckey, a retired
pilot
who chairs the Air Line Pilots Association’s national security committee.

Luckey, who successfully lobbied Congress to get guns into the cockpit,
came
to Glynco’s naval air station-turned training center to watch the sweaty,
banged-up pilots practice striking and grappling with attackers in close
quarters.

He and other pilots say they’re delighted with the training the Bush
administration developed, despite its earlier objections to arming pilots
as
potentially dangerous and disruptive. The airlines also opposed weapons on

the flight deck for the same reasons.

The Transportation Security Administration, which runs the new training
course, won’t disclose why the two pilots didn’t make the grade. Robert
Johnson, TSA spokesman, said pilots could fail to graduate for reasons
such
as an inability to finish the training or failing psychological tests that

indicate whether a pilot would be able to kill another person.

Ivan Kalister, who heads specialized training for the TSA, said the pilots

are excellent students. “If we give them the basic tools, they will be
able
to respond well if they’re attacked,” he said.

Some of the pilots had blistered trigger fingers after they shot a total
of
8,000 rounds from their semiautomatic pistols Wednesday night. Most had at

least a cut, bruise or lump from the intense one-on-one exercises.

Many of the pilots chosen for the program are familiar with guns because
they
had worked in law enforcement or the military. But some had not used
weapons
before.

The Transportation Security Agency selected men and women of a variety of
ages, backgrounds and sizes because the agency wanted to test the new
training program on different kinds of people.

“This is the beta version. It won’t be pretty but it will get done,”
Johnson said. He said the course will be modified as officials learn more
about how to do it.

One thing the pilots want to change is the way they have to carry their
weapons – in a locked case. When they leave the cockpit, even just to use
the
restroom, they’re supposed to stow the gun in a lockbox.

The next class is scheduled for the middle of July. The number of pilots
who
will ultimately carry guns depends on pilot interest and the amount of
money
Congress provides for training. The House aviation subcommittee will hold
a
hearing in May to figure out how much to allocate.

Capt. Fred Bates, an American Airlines pilot who helped put the program in

place, said as many as a third of U.S. pilots – about 30,000 – could be
carrying weapons on the flight deck in five years.

Their airline may not know they’re training to carry a gun because failing

could affect their job. Once they’re sworn in, they’ll have to tell their
employers, but they won’t be required to fly with a weapon every time they

get in the cockpit.

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