Op/Ed
WOULD MOHAMED ATTA OBJECT TO ARMED PILOTS?
Wed May 29, 9:02 PM ET
By Ann Coulter

In a new safety initiative, the Department of Transportation has instituted an affirmative-action program for Arabs interested in pursuing careers in aviation. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta (news - web sites) explained the security advantages of the program, saying, "surrendering to discrimination makes us no different than the terrorists."


Since you can't tell these days: This is not, in the strict sense, true. It is true, however, that the department has prohibited pilots from carrying guns and has rejected the idea of a "trusted traveler" program. In fact, it's not doing anything to make the airlines any safer. This should come as no surprise, inasmuch as Mineta recently said he was unaware of any "specific" threat against aviation.

They hate us. They're trying to kill us. They use airplanes as weapons. If Mineta doesn't talk to his boss, can't he at least read the papers?

In congressional testimony last week, Mineta mercifully spared the senators a recap of his experience in a Japanese internment camp and allowed his assistant, longtime Bush crony and ATF apologist John Magaw, to explain the department's key security improvements. The reason Magaw decided to prohibit pilots from having guns is -- and I quote -- "they really need to be in control of that aircraft."

This is literally the stupidest thing I've heard in my entire life.

It is like saying women walking home late at night in dangerous neighborhoods shouldn't carry guns (or mace, for the gunphobic) because they "really need to be getting home." If the undersecretary for transportation security thinks we need to debate whether pilots "really need to be in control of the aircraft," someone other than him really needs to be in control of airline security.

The scenario under which a gun might become useful for a pilot is this: The hijackers have penetrated the locked cockpit and thwarted air marshals, passengers and crew. It's going to be difficult for the pilot to fly the plane after the cockpit has been stormed by Arabs. Whatever could go wrong at that point -- a wounded passenger, a hole in the side of the plane, terrorists wresting control of the gun -- is better than the alternative.

Ah, but Magaw is worried that the terrorists will now have a pistol. Think of havoc they could wreak with a gun. Of course, they'll also have a Boeing 767 careening at 480 miles per hour toward the nearest landmark building. Magaw seems to think the real danger is that terrorists will shoot at the White House from a window, not that they'll fly the plane into it.

Magaw is the worst kind of government bureaucrat. He defends fascistic government abuses -- but the trains still don't run on time. Fascism is at least supposed to keep the citizenry safe.

As the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Magaw famously justified an unprovoked government assault against Randy Weaver and his family, culminating in the murder of Weaver's wife. In testimony before a Senate committee investigating the raid at Ruby Ridge, Magaw stubbornly refused to admit the ATF had done anything wrong whatsoever.

Indeed, he even refused to acknowledge a jury verdict finding that the government had entrapped Weaver. Of the jury's verdict, Magaw said: "Do you believe Randy Weaver -- or do you believe the federal agents who have sworn to tell the truth and are carrying out a career in this government?"

If only airline pilots worked for the government! Then Magaw would not only allow them to tussle with terrorists, but they would also be free to gun down innocent Americans without criticism. (The Senate report found Magaw's testimony not credible and recommended abolition of his entire agency.)

Magaw's other airline safety improvement was to reject the idea of a "trusted traveler" program, which would allow passengers to avoid three-hour airport security lines after submitting to an intrusive background check by the government. As reported by The New York Times, Magaw spurned the trusted traveler idea on the ground that "he is not sure who could safely be given the card."

more at:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/020530/51/1m9op.html

U.S. PILOTS DRAW BLANK\ ARMED COCKPIT IDEA FAILS TO FIND WINGS

Three pilots of a major airline gathered here at George Bush Intercontinental Airport to discuss whether, as an anti-terrorism measure, pilots should be armed.

The U.S. Transportation Department says guns will not be permitted in cockpits. Some in Congress will try to overturn this ban. The Air Line Pilots Association, which represents 62,000 pilots working for 42 airlines, adamantly favours arming them.

These three pilots -- two trained in the military, one in civilian life -- are ALPA members. They have a cumulative 75 years of experience flying for commercial airlines. None has an aversion to guns. Says one, "I was raised around guns all my life." Says another, "I've not got any affinity for gun control." Says the third, "I love guns. Been a hunter all my life. I'm against gun control."

All three oppose arming pilots. Here is why.

They note that Sept. 11 triggered a reversal of assumptions. The policy for pilots regarding a hijacking had been: Don't deal with it. Before suicidal hijackers took over four planes, the procedure was for pilots to fly their aircraft to the destination the hijacker demanded.

Now, these three pilots say, the priority must be to guarantee cockpits are sealed behind bulletproof doors, protecting the flight deck from intrusion while pilots get the plane on the ground as soon as possible -- which can be 10 minutes as pilots know from training to deal with the problem of sudden decompression of an aircraft.

Prior to Sept. 11, if a passenger became unruly, the pilot might come back into the cabin to assert authority. No more. Says one of these three, "the flight attendants know they are on their own."

"You cannot fly an airplane and look over your shoulder, firing down the cabin," says one of these pilots. What you could do, he says, is look down the cabin by means of a closed-circuit camera that would warn of cabin disturbances requiring quick action to take the plane to the ground. Flight plans should show the nearest alternative airport at every stage of every flight.

Another potential problem with arming America's 120,000 airline pilots is what one of the three pilots here calls, "cowboys or renegade pilots." Many commercial pilots began their flying careers as fighter-pilots. Two of the three speaking here this day did. One of them says there is some truth to the profile of fighter-pilots as, well, live wires and risk-takers. Arming them might incite them to imprudent bravery. Armed pilots would be more inclined to go out into the cabin, whereas the goal should be getting the plane to the ground.

"The popularity of an idea does not make it a good idea," says one of these pilots, and all three, although members of ALPA, question whether the idea of arming pilots is as popular with pilots as ALPA suggests.

Many thoughtful pilots do favour guns as an additional deterrence, and a last resort to restoring control over an aircraft before F-16s are scrambled to shoot it from the sky. Had armed pilots been flying the planes hijacked on Sept. 11, box cutters wouldn't have sufficed. And you do not want to know how many dangerous implements escape detection of airport screeners while they're X-raying your shoes and frisking grandmothers to demonstrate innocence of racial or ethnic profiling.

However, the pilots of El Al, Israel's airline, are not armed, and the airline has not had a hijacking in 34 years. The three pilots consider this evidence for the argument that the deterrence effect of armed pilots is not essential. Furthermore, gunfire in the cockpit could easily shatter the windshield. In which case, says one of these pilots, "someone is going to be sucked out -- the terrorist, if he's not strapped in."

"There are," says one of the three, "a lot of what-ifs and don't knows" when you decide to arm pilots. These pilots know they are against that.

Great article Christopher- thanks.

Barbara

Radio's Martin Launches Cockpit Guns Campaign

Jun 7, 2002

A veteran US radio broadcaster is to mount a nationwide campaign aimed at convincing the government to change its mind and allow airline pilots to carry weapons in the cockpit of their planes.

Andy Martin, who hosts the controversial talk radio show Andy Martin's America, is to present a special radio/internet conference edition of the show today to launch his crusade.

The man who has been in the broadcasting business for 34 years says: "This is the national issue which unites almost every American.

"When you have gun control advocates such as Richard Cohen in the Washington Post, and Second Amendment types, agreeing, watch out President Bush. The American people are trying to tell you something. Your administration is wrong to refuse arming pilots in the cockpit.

"In order for talk radio to influence national policy, there has to be an issue where the American people are united and the politicians are wrong," says Martin. 'Guns in the cockpit' is such an issue. The people, liberals and conservatives, want armed pilots. The politicians do not.


http://news.airwise.com/stories/2002/06/1023450030.html

Well that's strange because I can honestly say that I don't know anyone that supports guns in the cockpit. Stun guns yes, but not actual revolvers.

For an "interesting" discussion on the opposing views, try PPRuNe at:

U.S. pilots will not be armed...

Christopher, That is interesting particularly the first message that explains that pilots were allowed to be armed (though they weren't) from the missile crisis era in '61 until 7/01. How ironic that this right was rescinded just 2 months before 9/11 though it wouldn't have affected the outcome as pilots weren't carrying anyway.

I apologize if I am still dragging this subject out a bit but I do find it pretty interesting. If you really think about it though and the way the world works, there inevitably would be at least one mistake made that would result in a terrible tragedy if pilots were permitted to carry arms aboard an aircraft. It seems to me anyway that it wouldn't prevent the devious, suicidal type of people we are running up against from coming up with ways around this anyway- the 'shoe bomber' comes to mind. In the end if security fails before a plane is boarded, it seems as though the only hope of averting people that are hell bent on killing themselves and others is for the passengers and crews to accept a new era of being ever watchful and prepared to fight for their lives. Pretty horrible but may be the only answer unless you are fortunate enough to be flying on one of the few a/c that have a sky marshal aboard and I don't get the feeling that it's very common. Passengers/crews will never have the 'luxury' again of assuming that hijackers will negotiate for some crazy misguided purpose and allow the plane to land if they sit back and don't cause trouble. Christopher thanks for a good thread.

At the end of the day, I am more concerned with a so-called 'reputable' (you know the one that was so good it went out of business) airline that would arm it's plane with an entertainment system that would overheat and instead of getting the hint that this could be dangerous and cause a fire (duh) at 30,000 ft. noless, and couldn't be turned off in the event of a fire independent of interrupting the necessary instruments, just cranks up the A/C and keeps on flying until one of their aircraft catches fire in flight and crashes.

Apparently this issue is still going strong:

U.S. to try letting pilots carry guns



The House in July passed legislation to arm pilots over the opposition of Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta.




Sept. 5 -- In a major policy reversal, the Bush administration is on the verge of announcing a test under which pilots will carry guns in the cockpit of commercial airliners. NBC's Robert Hager reports.

Trial run represents shift
from opposition by Mineta





NBC NEWS AND NEWS SERVICES

WASHINGTON, Sept. 5 — In a major policy reversal, the Bush administration is on the verge of announcing that some U.S. airline pilots will be allowed to carry guns in the cockpit on a trial basis, NBC News has learned. Meanwhile, flight attendants on Thursday asked Congress to force airlines to provide them with better self-defense training.

http://msnbc.com/news/803750.asp?0si=-