U.S. Nears Decision On Guns in Cockpit ........ Agency Still Studying Stun Weapons By Sara Kehaulani Goo Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, May 29, 2003; Page E04 After failing to meet a congressionally mandated deadline for action, the Transportation Security Administration said yesterday that it will decide "within days" whether to allow some airlines to arm pilots with a kind of stun gun that emits an immobilizing electric shock. The TSA, which last month began a program to arm some pilots with guns in the cockpit, said it missed its May 26 deadline because it needed more time to weigh the safety and legal concerns of stun guns. Robert Johnson, a spokesman for the agency, said it took longer than anticipated to test the weapons, adding that a decision is "imminent." "We're talking about putting another weapon on board an aircraft," Johnson said. "We owe it to the traveling public to be thorough and to make certain we're doing the very best we can to develop protocols." United Airlines, the nation's second-largest carrier, and Mesa Air Group Inc., a Phoenix-based regional carrier that operates as America West Express, US Airways Express and Frontier JetExpress, sought approval from the TSA earlier this year to arm their pilots with tasers. United has already trained thousands of pilots to use the weapon. The two airlines, along with discount carrier American Trans Air, have pushed to allow the weapons in the cockpit as a safer alternative to arming pilots with lethal weapons, a measure that was overwhelmingly approved by Congress last fall. The TSA has trained 44 commercial airline pilots to carry guns in the cockpit and plans to expand the voluntary program this summer. "I'm not in favor of lethal weapons in the cockpit," said Jonathan Ornstein, president and chief executive of Mesa Airlines. "The issue of getting guns back and forth on the aircraft is fraught with too much risk. [The weapon] could be stolen; it could be lost." The stun gun under consideration is a version of an electric shock weapon called a taser. It is manufactured by Phoenix-based Taser International Inc. and delivers the shock by shooting an electric wire up to 21 feet. Other stun guns deliver an electric shock when pressed against a person's body or clothing. Taser International has already sold tasers to United for about $400 each. The company said its products are used by many police departments across the country. Some international airlines, such as Korean Air, keep a taser in the cabin for flight attendants to use. Under the airlines' plan, the taser would be in a lockbox in the cockpit. In a letter to United Airlines last month, TSA chief James M. Loy wrote that a "working group" reviewing stun guns at the agency "has determined that in defense of the flight deck, certain electronic stun guns may provide an appropriate deterrent to acts of violence or air piracy aboard the aircraft." In the same letter, Loy added that the agency needed more information about the legal concerns of transporting the stun gun into nations or states in which they are not allowed and methods of how crew members would be selected to carry the weapon. Johnson said the TSA plans to release a related study of nonlethal weapons use for flight attendants and pilots within days, which will outline the agency's position on all types of stun guns. Johnson said the agency has minor questions about United's proposed program but is still awaiting answers from Mesa about its proposal. Mesa's Ornstein, who said he was ready to arm his pilots weeks after the terrorist attacks in September 2001, said he is tired of the TSA's delays. "We've been dealing with this subject for over a year," Ornstein said. "It's more of the same." *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.caribbeanfloral.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************