Still much work to do before pilots can begin flying with guns WASHINGTON (AP) =97 The recent arrest of a Northwest Airlines pilot found=20 with a loaded handgun in his carry-on luggage raises the question of how=20 airport security workers can identify those pilots authorized by the=20 government to have a gun. Congress gave the Transportation Security Administration until Feb. 25 to=20 develop a plan to train those passenger airline pilots who volunteer to be= =20 "federal flight deck officers." The agency also must come up with rules by= =20 then that govern when and where those pilots may carry weapons. "There are= =20 still some policy questions that need to be answered," agency spokesman=20 Robert Johnson acknowledged. Among the questions: How does the gun get into= =20 the cockpit? Does the pilot carry it through the airport? If so, what=20 happens in countries with stricter gun-control laws than the United States?= =20 Who supplies the weapon? What kind of weapon will be issued? And how much=20 training should be required? The largest pilots' union, which favors arming= =20 pilots, is concerned the government may be looking for ways to limit or=20 delay the program, which the Bush administration only embraced after=20 Congress expressed overwhelming support. "They want to restrict it as much as they can," said Capt. Steve Luckey,=20 chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association's national security committee.= =20 Money is another unknown. The agency assembled $500,000 from various=20 accounts for a test program for 50 pilots in the spring. But with perhaps=20 30,000 or more of the estimated 100,000 commercial pilots interested in=20 participating, far more dollars will be needed. The agency's chief, James=20 Loy, estimated in November it would cost $900 million to start the full=20 program and about $250 million a year to maintain it. The agency has backed= =20 off those figures, saying it will cost less, but has provided no updated=20 estimates. Airlines, still reeling from the Sept. 11 attacks and losing=20 billions of dollars, do not want to cover any of the cost. "The pilots=20 don't want to pay for it, the airlines don't want to pay for it and the=20 government doesn't want to pay for it," said Paul Hudson, executive=20 director of the Aviation Consumer Action Project, which advocates airline=20 safety and security. Polls have shown most people want to allow pilots to=20 carry weapons. The airlines strongly oppose the idea, fearing a weapon=20 could fall into the wrong hands, accidentally injure a passenger or cause a= =20 plane crash if a stray bullet struck a fuel line or navigational equipment. The big airlines' trade group, the Air Transport Association, argues that=20 stronger cockpit doors and the presence of air marshals provide protection= =20 against hijackings. Capt. Fred Bates, an American Airlines pilot who heads= =20 a group of pilots working with agency to put the program in place, said the= =20 training requirements are pretty obvious because a cockpit is such a=20 limited jurisdiction. "It's really not about guns, it's about no more=20 9/11s," Bates said. Agency spokesman Johnson said the agency is likely to=20 go along with the pilots' recommendations for five days of training,=20 including marksmanship. The pilots want to be trained at federal facilities= =20 around the country so it is more convenient for them. The agency has not=20 decided whether to limit the training to federal law enforcement training=20 centers in Georgia and New Mexico. Also unanswered is what kind of gun will= =20 be allowed and whether pilots can carry them or be required to leave them=20 in the cockpit. Pilots want to carry semiautomatic pistols, not revolvers,= =20 so they can fire multiple rounds in case more than one hijacker tries to=20 commandeer a plane. They also do not want to keep the guns in lockboxes in= =20 the cockpit, an idea the government is considering. Pilots say it is safer= =20 to carry guns because they know where they are at all times. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: www.pichemas.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************