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09/25 9:08A (RT) Leading US pilots union wants guns in
cockpit
Story 5362 (I/AER, I/POL, I/WTC, I/DIP, I/DIS, I/NEWS, I/US,
I/VIO...)
By John
Crawley
WASHINGTON, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Saying air crews face a
new
kind of threat, the president of the largest U.S. pilots
union
said on Tuesday he wants to arm them as a last line of
defense
against
hijackers.
Duane Woerth, chief of the Air Line Pilots
Association,
will ask Congress later in the day at a House
of
Representatives hearing to support the plan two weeks
after
hijackers seized four airliners and used three of them
to
attack the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon.
"Under these circumstances we think we can
increase
aviation security in a real way and that's why we are going
to
propose it today," Woerth told ABC's "Good Morning
America."
Woerth, a 747-series captain for Northwest
Airlines,
proposed that specially screened, trained pilots would be
the
only ones allowed to carry weapons and that the program
would
be tightly
controlled.
The union, which represents pilots at most major
U.S.
carriers, envisions a central oversight role for federal
law
enforcement, which would issue the
weapons.
He said carrying a weapon would be
voluntary and that
the
captain on board would hold the ultimate
authority.
The pilots union and other security experts have said
that
the suicidal suspects in the Sept. 11 attacks on U.S.
financial
and military landmarks rewrote rules for how air crews
should
respond to
hijackings.
"Everything has changed and this is a new, real threat
that
needs a real solution in real time," Woerth
said.
Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Jane
Garvey
told a news conference in New York on Monday that all
security
options remained on the
table.
U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat who
will
hold another hearing on airline security on Tuesday,
said
arming pilots might help law enforcement augment other
efforts
to man domestic flights with armed
personnel.
He said on CBS's "The Early Show" that the government
needs
to help create conditions for aircraft security and
make
"passengers feel
secure."
Currently, the FAA is building up its air marshals
program,
which uses armed, plainclothed guards aboard commercial
air
service.Woerth conceded there was a risk that future
hijackers
could seize weapons from the cockpit but said the benefits
of
having a gun outweighed that
risk.
The extraordinary proposal came as lawmakers and the
Bush
administration accelerated efforts to draft plans for
expanding
airport and airline
security.
The FAA has ordered new security steps in recent
days,
including an end to curb-side check-in and a ban on knives
and
other cutting instruments carried
onboard.
The agency also has renewed efforts to confirm
the
identities of airline, airport and contract workers with
access
to aircraft and sensitive areas of the airport
for
Senate and House lawmakers continued to craft
bipartisan
legislation to boost security after approving a $15
billion
industry bailout last
week.
While a range of security proposals are being
considered,
congressional aides and lawmakers have said the central
thrust
of final legislation would be to restore public confidence
in
the safety of air
travel.
((Washington congressional newsroom, 202 898-8390 fax
202
479-2639, e-mail <A
href="mailto:Washington.bureau.newsroom@xxxxxxxxxxx";>Washington.bureau.newsroom@xxxxxxxxxxx))
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