Armed pilots are months away By Alan Levin, USA TODAY WASHINGTON =97 President Bush today will sign legislation that allows= airline=20 pilots to carry guns in cockpits, but it will be months before any take=20 their weapons aboard. And when they do, it's likely that fewer than half of= =20 the roughly 75,000 pilots will choose or qualify to take the controversial= =20 step of arming themselves. Before any pilot can pack a handgun, the=20 government must set up a training program to make pilots proficient at=20 shooting inside the confined quarters of a cockpit. The government also=20 must write rules on what weapons should be allowed, how pilots carry the=20 guns to and from the aircraft and whether they can carry them off duty. The= =20 authority to carry weapons is contained in legislation that establishes a=20 department of homeland security by merging 22 federal agencies, including=20 the U.S. Coast Guard, Secret Service and Transportation Security=20 Administration, in an effort to make the USA less vulnerable to terrorism. Letting pilots carry guns is designed to discourage hijackers. But it was a= =20 controversial step. Congress voted to allow it over early objections of the= =20 TSA after pilots lobbied ferociously for the authority. TSA officials had=20 argued that armed Federal Air Marshals provide sufficient safety in the=20 air. The legislation also authorizes flight attendants to get self-defense= =20 training. The legislation says the TSA should begin arming pilots within 90= =20 days but gives the agency wide latitude to write rules. TSA spokesman=20 Robert Johnson says it's too early to say what the program will look like=20 or how many pilots will eventually qualify. But one federal official said=20 pilots should expect rigorous training and standards that limit the number= =20 of pilots who participate. Upward of 30,000 pilots are anticipated to apply= =20 to carry weapons, although the security chief for the nation's largest=20 pilot union says he thinks it will be far less. "This isn't for everybody,"= =20 says Steven Luckey of the Air Line Pilots Association, which joined with=20 all of the smaller pilots unions to push for the authority. "We're not=20 looking for quantity here. We're looking for quality." After having won over Congress, pilots are now trying to influence how the= =20 TSA sets up the program. The training for pilots is supposed to be similar= =20 to the 12-week program received by the air marshals. But pilots want to=20 limit the length of training to one week. Pilots will not be paid for=20 training. Luckey says a 48-hour course over five days should be sufficient. The TSA also is wrestling with how to pay for the program. Congress didn't= =20 appropriate any money. The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (chgdev) http://www.chagdev.com/ (Chaguaramas Development Authority) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************