Drizzt
Member
The Washington Post
February 13, 2003, Thursday, Final Edition
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A13
LENGTH: 548 words
HEADLINE: Some Pilots Oppose Gun Rules; Screening Intrusive, Security Group Says
BYLINE: Keith L. Alexander, Washington Post Staff Writer
BODY:
An airline pilots group said yesterday that the federal agency in charge of air security is setting unacceptable requirements for pilots to qualify to carry guns during flights.
In a message to its members, the Airline Pilots' Security Alliance said the requirements proposed by the Transportation Security Administration, including exhaustive psychological evaluations, were "intrusive" and "obscene." The group said the TSA wants each pilot who wants to carry a gun to submit to a wide-ranging background investigation, including interviews with neighbors, relatives, friends and co-workers, an interview with a TSA psychiatrist, a second government psychological exam and a medical evaluation. The pilots said that many of the requirements were redundant. The Federal Aviation Administration conducts physical and psychological exams of pilots every six months.
"They're requiring us to jump through so many hoops so that we can't meet the requirements," said Tracy W. Price, a spokesman for the pilots group.
TSA spokesman Robert Johnson said the background-check requirements are similar to those that other federal law enforcement officers, including air marshals, undergo. "It's reasonable to expect that putting a firearm in an aircraft environment would include some kind of prior evaluation," Johnson said. "The only limiting factor to this program is funding."
The TSA has set aside $ 500,000 to train an initial group of 50 pilots and the agency requested $ 25 million in its fiscal 2004 budget. Johnson said the TSA is designing a training program that will "attempt to reduce as much as possible any liability issues that may arise."
Congress voted last year to allow the training of pilots to carry firearms on flights. The program calls for volunteer pilots to become "federal flight deck officers." The TSA has until Feb. 25 to implement its firearm-training program and finalize its requirements.
Not all pilots oppose the TSA rules. John Mazor, a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association, the union that represents 66,000 pilots, said his members support stringent investigations. He said the union lobbied for extensive background checks and screening of its members.
"I'm somewhat surprised at this announcement from the group," Mazor said. "There was no secret that there would be these kind of requirements."
Mazor said Price's group wanted to arm pilots faster than the government and the union thought was feasible.
Price said pilots should have been armed immediately after the 2001 terrorist attacks. The screening process should require only proof that the pilot is employed and does not have a criminal background, he said.
Price's group objected to some of the language in a draft of the TSA's guidelines for arming the pilots. According to the draft provided to The Washington Post by the group, pilots had to "have the requisite mental, psychological and cognitive abilities as well as the discipline and judgment" to possess the firearms. The pilots also must "conduct themselves with maximum regard for the safety and security of the traveling public, crew" and federal air marshals.
"Our position is if you don't have those traits in abundance already, you have no business being an airline pilot," Price said.
February 13, 2003, Thursday, Final Edition
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A13
LENGTH: 548 words
HEADLINE: Some Pilots Oppose Gun Rules; Screening Intrusive, Security Group Says
BYLINE: Keith L. Alexander, Washington Post Staff Writer
BODY:
An airline pilots group said yesterday that the federal agency in charge of air security is setting unacceptable requirements for pilots to qualify to carry guns during flights.
In a message to its members, the Airline Pilots' Security Alliance said the requirements proposed by the Transportation Security Administration, including exhaustive psychological evaluations, were "intrusive" and "obscene." The group said the TSA wants each pilot who wants to carry a gun to submit to a wide-ranging background investigation, including interviews with neighbors, relatives, friends and co-workers, an interview with a TSA psychiatrist, a second government psychological exam and a medical evaluation. The pilots said that many of the requirements were redundant. The Federal Aviation Administration conducts physical and psychological exams of pilots every six months.
"They're requiring us to jump through so many hoops so that we can't meet the requirements," said Tracy W. Price, a spokesman for the pilots group.
TSA spokesman Robert Johnson said the background-check requirements are similar to those that other federal law enforcement officers, including air marshals, undergo. "It's reasonable to expect that putting a firearm in an aircraft environment would include some kind of prior evaluation," Johnson said. "The only limiting factor to this program is funding."
The TSA has set aside $ 500,000 to train an initial group of 50 pilots and the agency requested $ 25 million in its fiscal 2004 budget. Johnson said the TSA is designing a training program that will "attempt to reduce as much as possible any liability issues that may arise."
Congress voted last year to allow the training of pilots to carry firearms on flights. The program calls for volunteer pilots to become "federal flight deck officers." The TSA has until Feb. 25 to implement its firearm-training program and finalize its requirements.
Not all pilots oppose the TSA rules. John Mazor, a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association, the union that represents 66,000 pilots, said his members support stringent investigations. He said the union lobbied for extensive background checks and screening of its members.
"I'm somewhat surprised at this announcement from the group," Mazor said. "There was no secret that there would be these kind of requirements."
Mazor said Price's group wanted to arm pilots faster than the government and the union thought was feasible.
Price said pilots should have been armed immediately after the 2001 terrorist attacks. The screening process should require only proof that the pilot is employed and does not have a criminal background, he said.
Price's group objected to some of the language in a draft of the TSA's guidelines for arming the pilots. According to the draft provided to The Washington Post by the group, pilots had to "have the requisite mental, psychological and cognitive abilities as well as the discipline and judgment" to possess the firearms. The pilots also must "conduct themselves with maximum regard for the safety and security of the traveling public, crew" and federal air marshals.
"Our position is if you don't have those traits in abundance already, you have no business being an airline pilot," Price said.
