Use of Stun Guns by Pilots Is Backed

Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said he opposes pilots’ demands for firearms to defend the cockpit against hijackers but would support stun guns that use an electric current to temporarily incapacitate an attacker.

When the user is properly trained, “I think that stun guns are the way to go,” Mineta said in an interview with The Times, the first time he has taken a position on the emotionally charged issue. Two airlines, United and Phoenix-based Mesa, already have expressed interest in the nonlethal weapons in anticipation of government approval.

In polls, about 80% of airline pilots say they would feel more secure if they could respond to aggressors with lethal force. Pilots unions have petitioned the Transportation Department to allow volunteers to be trained as deputy air marshals and issued semiautomatic pistols.

But airlines are adamantly opposed to providing pilots with firearms, fearing that flying bullets would damage planes and prompt lawsuits if passengers were struck unintentionally.

According to their manufacturers, stun guns are effective more than 90% of the time--not enough to satisfy some critics.

Mineta said federal requirements that airlines replace flimsy cockpit doors with stronger, bulletproof versions should virtually eliminate the chances a pilot would have to resort to any weapon.

The new doors will replace temporary metal bars installed after the Sept. 11 attacks. The cockpit is now required to be locked during flight.

“What we have done is make the whole cockpit more secure, which means there is minimal need” for weapons, Mineta said in the interview this week.

He added that he opposes a request by the flight attendants union to make stun guns available to its members in the passenger cabin.

“Having a stun gun get into the wrong hands in the cabin environment is a real potential, and I’ve got some concerns with that,” he said.

It’s unclear whether the Transportation Department would require airlines to issue stun guns to pilots or merely set guidelines for training and use and leave the final decision to individual carriers. Mineta said his comments represent his own position and not a final decision by the department. Airline officials said a ruling is expected soon.

Stun guns use a compressed gas charge to fire two small probes tethered by 20-foot wires to a device that supplies an electric charge. The dartlike probes can deliver a charge through most clothing, even leather jackets. Police departments often use stun guns because they do not cause lasting injury.

“The net effect is that it will incapacitate a person very quickly, and that person will remain incapacitated until restrained,” said Steve Tuttle, an executive of Taser International of Scottsdale, Ariz. “It feels like a funny bone going off, but picture that all over your body at 20 times per second. Some people completely lock up.” Taser is a brand name for stun guns.

Stun guns can be purchased without a license in 43 states, including California, Tuttle said. The most powerful models are sold only to law enforcement agencies.

United Airlines spokesman Joe Hopkins said the airline has ordered 1,300 Tasers and expects to put two in each cockpit of its 543 planes. The stun guns would be kept in a locked cabinet and taken out and holstered within reach of the pilots during flight. The latest Advanced Taser M26 lists for $399.

“They don’t pose a hazard to aircraft,” Hopkins said. “We tested them by shooting them right into the instrument panel, both on the ground and in flight.”

United expects to begin training its pilots and flight attendants this spring. Hopkins said there might be incidents in which a flight attendant in the cockpit would have to use a Taser--for example, when one of the pilots is on a bathroom break.

Tuttle said two foreign airlines carry Tasers aboard for the crew, and one of them provides the weapons to flight attendants. He would not identify the carriers.

The only weapon pilots have available to them now is a standard-issue emergency ax. Last month, a United co-pilot on a Miami-to-Buenos Aires flight hit an intruder on the head with the flat side of the ax after the man tried to jam his body through a panel in the cockpit door.

“Somebody who wants to take over the cockpit in the future is going to have to deal with reinforced doors first,” Hopkins said. “And after that, they’re going to have to deal with the effects of the Taser.”

However, in a very small number of cases, police reports indicate that suspects shot with Tasers have not been knocked out.

Tuttle said his company’s own statistics show that its M26 model is 94% effective.

“There is no such thing as a magic bullet,” conceded Tuttle, adding that sometimes the probes do not make a good connection and other times the assailant is out of range.

In an aircraft, an attacker would be at close range, Tuttle said. “He’d be right on top of you in the cockpit.”

Moreover, Tuttle said someone wearing multiple layers of bulky clothing in the hopes of deflecting a Taser hit “would stick out like a sore thumb” in the passenger cabin.

But some aviation security experts say a 94% effectiveness rate is not good enough. A former airline security director, who asked not to be identified, said he does not have much confidence in stun guns because would-be criminals can train themselves to resist the jolt.

“If you practice, if you’re willing to undergo a couple of hits, it doesn’t bring you down,” he said.

Tuttle said that was true for some people shot with older-model Tasers but not with the M26.

“We are the only thing they can put in there that will not damage the aircraft and will stop a focused person,” he said.