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Democrat Wants Locked Cockpit Doors, Not Guns, For Pilots
By Jim Burns
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
May 10, 2002

(CNSNews.com) – Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.) introduced legislation late Thursday that would require an airliner’s cockpit doors to remain shut and locked at all times during a flight, but it also specifies that pilots would not be allowed to have guns in the cockpit.

“Pilots are there to fly, not shoot. It’s not ho-hum up there. You don’t get up and stretch. You fly the plane. Airlines could outfit their cockpits with rest rooms adequate for long journeys,” said Hollings on Capitol Hill.

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge have said they will support the use of stun guns and Tasers – but not firearms — for pilots.

“I’ve expressed a personal opinion on this,” Mineta said March 4. “I don’t feel that we should have lethal weapons in the cockpit.”

“For the first time I’m with the White House,” Hollings said.

Hollings thinks that if cockpit doors remain shut during a flight, hijackers will have to deal with armed air marshalls in the cabin and pilots who could steer the plane to the ground unscathed.

But firearms are out of the question, according to the South Carolina Senator.

“You’ve got everybody in heat about pistols and stun guns. Next, they’ll want to give passengers a machete,” he said.

Meanwhile, two key members of the House Transportation Committee have introduced legislation to force the creation of a voluntary program to arm some commercial airline pilots.

“We now face a possible situation where the Department of Defense may be forced to make the difficult decision of having our own Air Force shoot down a plane full of innocent passengers due to a terrorist takeover,” said Transportation Committee Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska).

Noting that pilots already are entrusted with the lives of every passenger on the plane, Young says those pilots should also be equipped with firearms to defend themselves against terrorists and other hijackers.

“I strongly believe that under these new circumstances, we must allow trained and qualified pilots to serve as the last line of defense against such a potential disaster,” he said.

Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee, says the idea of arming pilots is not one that he and Young “just cooked up one day in the House cloakroom.”

“Of all the people who look at aviation security, in my opinion, there’s no one that’s more experienced than these pilots,” Mica said. “They know the weaknesses of the system, and when they’re asking us to help arm and defend themselves, Congress must comply with that request.”