Legislative Leaders Reluctant to Arm Pilots

Key congressional leaders expressed doubts Tuesday about a proposal to create an elite corps of highly trained, armed airline pilots as a last line of defense against hijackers.

The Air Line Pilots Assn. is calling for a cadre of FBI-trained pilot volunteers carrying pistols with special ammunition that can kill an attacker but not pierce the fuselage of an airliner. However, House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) said he worries about what might happen if an intruder were to disarm a pilot. Others raised similar concerns.

Meanwhile, President Bush met with Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta at the White House to review options for improving aviation security. Although there appears to be agreement on reinforcing cockpit doors and on a substantial, permanent increase in the number of air marshals, the scope of the federal role in airport security screening is still being debated.

“We’re looking at all options as to how to enhance airline security,” Bush said. “I look forward to working with Congress to put some concrete steps in place that will assure the American public that the government and the airlines are doing as much as we can to enhance security and safety.”

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush made no decisions during his one-hour meeting with Mineta. He said the president would probably make an announcement when he decides.

Congress is expected to take up an air security bill next week. Legislators agree that training, standards and pay must be improved for those who screen airport baggage, but disagree on whether federal workers should do the job. Conservatives are loath to create another bureaucracy.

Fleischer indicated that one option being considered is assigning the responsibility to local law enforcement agencies that would adhere to one set of federal standards and presumably receive financial support from Washington.

Of the dozens of proposals to improve security that have been offered since the Sept. 11 hijackings, few have made such a visceral connection as arming pilots.

Capt. John Cox, a security specialist for the pilots’ union, said there is broad support among its members. “The pilot feedback has been very, very much in favor of this,” Cox said. “Pilots’ backgrounds are very compatible with law enforcement. Many of them have military experience.”

The pilots’ association, which represents 67,000 commercial pilots in the United States and Canada, has also proposed that airline pilots be equipped with stun guns.

But Armey and his Democratic counterpart, Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, said they would have concerns about pilots carrying guns.

“I’m not so sure it’s the first, best response,” said Armey, adding that he worries that guns could “fall into the hands of bad guys.”

Gephardt said: “I don’t think we need pilots to be trying to be security officers,” A “better answer,” he said, is to fortify cockpit doors, so intruders cannot gain access.

“If we can secure their space . . . then I think we largely solve the problem of these terrorists being able to use the planes as weapons of mass destruction,” he said.

Douglas Laird, a consultant who served as security director for Northwest Airlines, said he understands why pilots would want to pack a pistol, but doesn’t think it’s a good idea.

“If you take the emotion out of it, the pilot’s role is to fly the airplane,” Laird said. “We need to slow down a little bit, and take a good, hard look because we don’t want to do the wrong thing in the heat of this situation.”

But Cox said the pilots’ union does not see its proposal as an emotional reaction. “This would be a very carefully controlled program,” he said. “The volunteers would undergo extensive psychological screening and they would be trained to federal standards.”

A pilot who flies out of Los Angeles International Airport said he would like to have a stun gun for added security. “I don’t know if it’s such a good idea to have bullets flying around,” said the pilot, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He said he worries that preoccupation with security could cause distractions in the cockpit. “I’m emphasizing to myself that I need to get back to my normal . . . patterns so I don’t screw up,” he said.