Pilots threaten strike if kept disarmed
Optimizzin Al-gorithm
oa at acm.org
Sun Oct 7 11:48:51 PDT 2001
[Reformatted for legibility. Please take the few moments required to
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http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_show.html?article=5752
News - October 5, 2001
Pilots threaten to stop
service if kept unarmed
By KATHRYN MARCHOCKI
Union Leader Staff
Commercial airline pilots will be asked to suspend air
service if they cannot have trained, armed pilots in the cockpits, a
New Hampshire pilot said.
A resolution that will be circulated among the various councils of
the 67,000-member Air Line Pilots Association this month asks
federal regulations be changed to allow for the voluntary arming of
flight crew members, Robert Giuda, a United Airlines captain of
Warren said.
"Had we had armed pilots on Sept. 11, we wouldn't have the
horrific tragedy that we're dealing with at this point," Giuda
said of the four hijacked jetliners.
Pilots would first get training in firearms by the FBI and would use
their weapons only to defend against an attempted breach of the
cockpit, the resolution said.
The resolution also calls for federal licensing of pilots to carry
concealed weapons and for the government to indemnify air carriers
and their employees against the legitimate use of a firearm.
If those steps are not carried out, the resolution calls for a
national suspension of air service, at such times and in such manner
as is deemed appropriate by the leadership of the Air Line Pilots
Association."
"We're hearing members of Congress say they don't want a bunch of
armed hooligans running around," said Giuda, a New Hampshire state
representative.
He said there was "no more professionalized, highly-scrutinized
group of people in the world than airline pilots."
The security of the flight deck cannot depend solely on armed sky
marshals, he said.
Sky marshals can be picked out of a crowd and, if overpowered, would
provide a hijacker with a weapon, Giuda said.
"It's time to throw the gauntlet to the mat. We are going to get
politicized into unarmed cockpits and then we'll get shot with the
guns the marshals used because they will be taken away from them,"
he added.
Arming pilots introduces the element of "risk, fear and doubt"
into the mind of a potential hijacker, he said.
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