BUREAUCRATS STYMIE ARMING OF AIRLINE PILOTS

EMail ^ | 08/18/2003 | EMail

[LuisBasco]

Last year, we convinced Congress and the President to bring REAL security to America's skies, by allowing trained volunteer pilots to carry guns in the cockpit to combat any terrorist threat.

That bill passed and was signed into law, which allows for Federal Flight Deck Officers (FFDOs) to be armed. However, true to government form, the bureaucrats who never wanted this bill passed are now doing everything in their power to stymie its implementation... at the expense of OUR safety and security.

Look at what the new Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) will require from each FFDO candidate, according to the Airline Pilots' Security Alliance (secure-skies.org):

1) A lengthy and probing application & resume.

2) A government administered psychological exam, testing airline pilots -- AIRLINE PILOTS, the ones we already entrust with our LIVES -- for things like MENTAL ABILITIES, JUDGMENT, DISCIPLINE, AND THE ABILITY TO FOLLOW PROCEDURES, POLICIES, REGULATIONS AND LAWS. Airline pilots prove each day that they possess an abundance of these traits. What would happen to a pilot that failed to meet the TSA standard? Would the benevolent government bureaucracy be merciful enough to let him continue to do the job he has been doing quite well for many years?

3) A one-on-one "interview" with a TSA psychiatrist. The TSA will be screening to make sure that AIRLINE PILOTS CAN "CONDUCT THEMSELVES WITH MAXIMUM REGARD FOR THE SAFETY AND SECURITY OF THE TRAVELING PUBLIC, CREW AND FAMS..." No kidding.

4) A very probing, intrusive and exhaustive government sponsored background investigation to include an "interview" with a TSA "security expert." They will call a pilot's neighbors, friends, relatives, co-workers, previous employer and, in direct violation of the law, THEY WILL ASK HIS OR HER CURRENT AIRLINE EMPLOYER IF THEY THINK THE PILOT SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE FFDO PROGRAM. Considering the airlines' longstanding and clear opposition to this program, what do YOU think the answer might be?

5) A medical evaluation. Apparently existing FAA exams required every six months are inadequate for the TSA.

6) TSA agents will be skulking around FFDO training facilities with pencils and notepads OBSERVING THE BEHAVIOR OF FFDO STUDENTS DURING THEIR FIREARMS TRAINING and making sure they have the proper "mindset." Stand by for a hostile training environment.

7) ANOTHER "psychological assessment" after training is completed. Look forward to another TSA sponsored psychiatric grilling.

In addition, the TSA-proposed firearms carry method is unacceptable. The time-proven method, the one that is the safest and most secure way of transporting a firearm, is for the individual responsible for the firearm to carry it on his person. The TSA is not planning to allow this for FFDO's BECAUSE THEY WANT TO MAKE THIS PROGRAM AS CUMBERSOME, UNMANAGEABLE, UNWIELDY AND AS EXPENSIVE AS POSSIBLE, in order to minimize the number of pilots that volunteer, and to doom the program to failure even before it starts. GUNS IN UNATTENDED LOCK-BOXES OR IN UNSECURED CREW LUGGAGE WILL PUT ALL PILOTS IN JEOPARDY AND MAKE OUR TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM LESS SAFE, but these facts conflict with the TSA's true agenda: To scuttle the FFDO program.

A TSA attorney-advisor, Mr. Stephen L. Cohen, has made it clear that the TSA intends to make the program so difficult, intimidating and burdensome that no pilot will volunteer.

Airline Pilots NEED YOUR HELP!

ACTION ITEM: Airline pilots want nothing more than a reasonable, effective and safe program. It is OBSCENE to subject airline pilots, who willingly volunteer for this unpaid duty so that they can defend their passengers and crew, to the TSA-proposed minefield. Airline pilots are not the enemy, the terrorists are! We need to remind the TSA that they serve the traveling public and are responsible to the Congress, not the other way around.

Go to our site below to contact your legislators right away, and tell them that the TSA is ignoring the will of Congress and is unreasonably limiting the number of airline pilots that may be armed:

http://www.conservativealerts.com/021803.htm AOL GO HERE

NOTE: You can also email President Bush at president@whitehouse.gov and ask him to fix the problem at the TSA today and make them implement an armed pilot program that complies with the will of Congress. Be sure to forward this email to everyone you know who wants to see REAL and REASONABLE airline security measures put into place. Tha

[LuisBasco]

Let's let congresscritters know how we feel about their abdicating their responsibities and allowing the bureaucrats take command!

[Blood of Tyrants]

Forget contacting Bush, he opposed it in the first place.

[Blood of Tyrants]

P.S. When this passed, I said that the buruearacrats would do everything they could to make carrying a gun so difficult and the process so tiresome that few would bother.

And what REALLY pisses me off is that a FREAKING POULTRY INSPECTOR can carry a gun with hardly a signed name required!

[Search4Truth]

Demand Reasonable Airline Security Measures!

[Ohioan]

It is a sad day for America when there is even an issue about the right of the captain of a ship to arm himself, for his own protection and that of his crew and passengers. Why do we denigrate aircraft pilots in a way that it would have been unthinkable to denigrate the captains of ships?

This is outrageous, any way that you look at it. It is not the sort of thing which makes Americans want to trust the Federal Bureaucracy--nor should it!

William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site

[harpseal]

I guess poultry inspecors are not subject to chicken Sh*t regulations like the pilots

[Ravenstar]

Harpseal! we agree on something!

Ravenstar

[elbucko]

I am not flying until the following conditions:

1. It's a Boeing.

2. Boeing has qualified US pilot.

3. Pilot has suitable firearm.

4. Firearm is loaded and placed within the reach of the pilot.

I don't think that the "powers that be" have given any consideration to the possibility that a large sector of the public is NOT flying because pilots aren't armed yet.

[caltrop]

Bush could put a stop to this in a hurry if he wanted to. I'm not inclined to call my Congressman on this again. At this point, the ball is in Bush's court. Those of us who care about this issue should be in touch with the NRA, GOA, etc. to tell them to explain the facts of life to Bush and, probably more importantly, Rove. When they do, I hope they'll point out that any Supreme Court nominations will be viewed with special scrutiny after the way they've handled this.

[meadsjn]

Airline pilots score way too high on IQ tests for the government to trust them with a firearm.

[LuisBasco]

Firearm is loaded and placed within the reach of the pilot.

This will be at the top of my list!

[TigersEye]

Signed and sent.

[Ravenstar]

Unfortunately I think your right especially considering the fact that many of them are ex-military pilots and so are used to handling firearms in a flight situation.

Ravenstar

[USNBandit]

The problem with the opposition is they misunderstand what that pilot with a gun is going to do. In the event of a hijacking, the people in the back of the airplane are still on their own. The chance of their being an air marshal on board is slim to none. The armed pilot isn't going to use his weapon until the cockpit is threatened. Right now if the same scenario happens all he has is a crash axe. If we can get at least 15% of the aircrew carrying weapons that will be a much greater deterrant than a few air marshals spread throughout the thousands of aircraft flying everyday.

[Howie]

The inevitable!

[Chancellor Palpatine]

The use of lots of capital letters in any communication should be sufficient grounds to revoke the flying status of any pilot due to instability.

[fire_eye]

I don't think that the "powers that be" have given any consideration to the possibility that a large sector of the public is NOT flying because pilots aren't armed yet.

Or that we're not flying until they stop searching grandmothers in wheelchairs...

Here is the pilots' organization dedicated to defending the lives of American pilots from the bureaucrats (including unfortunately George Bush, of whom I must reluctantly conclude that he is unwilling to put a stop to this lunacy):

Airline Pilots' Security Alliance
8190 Beechmont Ave # 340
Cincinnati, OH 45255-6117

[Redbob]

I wonder to what extent that pilots' organization supports the right of citizens generally to arm ourselves for our own defense.

Probably not at all, in which case I say, fine:
I'll support arming pilots when pilots support an armed citizenry.

[longtermmemmory]

I just went through JFK, a few weeks ago. Everyone's shoes were being inpected, some of the workers did NOT speak english. It seemed like the keystone cops on parade.

How many axes are allowed in the cockpit? Heavy duty flashlights?

[Atlas Sneezed]

I just met with a fella who was complaining about the added time it takes at the airport these days so that he can carry his loaded gun as a passenger on commercial flights.

His employer? The FOREST SERVICE!