Why anyone at this point still believes the government wants or will allow pilots (in large numbers) to be armed is beyond me.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=33825
Faster gun training
for pilots sought
Group wants Bush administration to open more instructional centers
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: July 30, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Jon Dougherty
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
In the face of new terrorist hijacker warnings, a pilots' advocacy group is calling on President Bush to expand the number of federal firearms-training facilities so more air crews can fly armed.
According to the Airline Pilots' Security Alliance, a group that has advocated arming pilots, too few air crews are flying with the protection of a firearm aboard the plane, some 22 months after the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings.
That, APSA says, despite a new Department of Homeland Security warning that al-Qaida terrorists may be planning more suicide hijackings similar to the 9-11 attacks.
"The armed-pilots program needs to be accelerated by President Bush today," said Bob Lambert, a commercial airline pilot and president of APSA. "There are not enough armed pilots to create a deterrent for continued aviation terrorism."
The pilots' advocacy group says only one facility is training airline pilots as federal flight deck officers, under legislation passed by Congress last fall and signed into law. While the pilots' group praised the legislation, officials say the training of pilots is too slow, especially in light of the new warnings.
"The Transportation Security Administration has done a terrible job of arming pilots to date," said APSA spokesman Brian Darling. "… Although training is being conducted currently, there needs to be a radical acceleration of the armed-pilots program to deter al-Qaida from targeting commercial aircraft for September 11-style hijackings."
APSA says only one facility is being utilized to train pilots to carry a firearm during flight, and that facility only turns out 50 pilots per week, or 2,600 per year. As a result, only 100 pilots are currently trained under federal standards to carry firearms, APSA says, nearly two years after the 9-11 attacks.
The pilot's group estimates there are 40,000 volunteer pilots who may seek admission to the armed-pilots program.
"At the current rate of training, it would take 15 years to train 40,000 … pilots," APSA says. "The current slow pace of the Department of Homeland Security is harming the national security of our nation.
"The president has it in his power to invoke an executive order to allow volunteer pilots to carry lethal weapons to defend the cockpits of our nation's airliners," APSA said. "Clearly, had any of the pilots of the hijacked aircraft been armed on September 11, at best those hijackings, through deterrence alone, would have been thwarted; at worst, the pilots would have been provided a fighting chance to defend the cockpits from terrorists."
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=33825
Faster gun training
for pilots sought
Group wants Bush administration to open more instructional centers
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: July 30, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Jon Dougherty
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
In the face of new terrorist hijacker warnings, a pilots' advocacy group is calling on President Bush to expand the number of federal firearms-training facilities so more air crews can fly armed.
According to the Airline Pilots' Security Alliance, a group that has advocated arming pilots, too few air crews are flying with the protection of a firearm aboard the plane, some 22 months after the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackings.
That, APSA says, despite a new Department of Homeland Security warning that al-Qaida terrorists may be planning more suicide hijackings similar to the 9-11 attacks.
"The armed-pilots program needs to be accelerated by President Bush today," said Bob Lambert, a commercial airline pilot and president of APSA. "There are not enough armed pilots to create a deterrent for continued aviation terrorism."
The pilots' advocacy group says only one facility is training airline pilots as federal flight deck officers, under legislation passed by Congress last fall and signed into law. While the pilots' group praised the legislation, officials say the training of pilots is too slow, especially in light of the new warnings.
"The Transportation Security Administration has done a terrible job of arming pilots to date," said APSA spokesman Brian Darling. "… Although training is being conducted currently, there needs to be a radical acceleration of the armed-pilots program to deter al-Qaida from targeting commercial aircraft for September 11-style hijackings."
APSA says only one facility is being utilized to train pilots to carry a firearm during flight, and that facility only turns out 50 pilots per week, or 2,600 per year. As a result, only 100 pilots are currently trained under federal standards to carry firearms, APSA says, nearly two years after the 9-11 attacks.
The pilot's group estimates there are 40,000 volunteer pilots who may seek admission to the armed-pilots program.
"At the current rate of training, it would take 15 years to train 40,000 … pilots," APSA says. "The current slow pace of the Department of Homeland Security is harming the national security of our nation.
"The president has it in his power to invoke an executive order to allow volunteer pilots to carry lethal weapons to defend the cockpits of our nation's airliners," APSA said. "Clearly, had any of the pilots of the hijacked aircraft been armed on September 11, at best those hijackings, through deterrence alone, would have been thwarted; at worst, the pilots would have been provided a fighting chance to defend the cockpits from terrorists."