Airline Pilots Hold Press Conference at MIA to Demand Guns 

“I can carry a weapon in Louisiana and Florida and fly an F-15, but the government is trying to prevent me from carrying a gun in an airplane.” 

By Jason Jeffers
Staff Writer 

Airline pilots are complaining that efforts are underway to keep them from carrying guns in their cockpits.

Last Tuesday morning, representatives from the Airline Pilots Security Alliance (APSA) held simultaneous press conferences at several of the nation’s larger airports, including Miami International, Reagan National Airport in Washington D.C., and O’Hare International in Chicago, to urge President George W. Bush to play a larger role in accelerating the Federal Flight Deck Officers (FFDO) program.

The FFDO program was first enacted last November to allow the pilots of commercial aircrafts to carry firearms as a line of defense against any attempts to take over the cockpit by terrorists or hijackers.

However, members of APSA are claiming that the program is being undermined by the Department of Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration through various delay tactics.

“Right now, most of the pilots enrolled in the program are going through an excessive level of psychological testing and background checks,” said First Officer Robert Sproc of APSA during a press conference at Miami International Airport. “Guys are being given too little notice to show up for training, they’re getting frustrated.”

Sproc also explained that the program excludes cargo airline pilots, which APSA hopes to change.

“We have always said that we need duly trained and armed pilots,” Sproc said. “They are our first deterrent and last line of defense against terrorism of this nature.”

One airline pilot with military training who asked not to be named criticized the Department of Homeland Security’s handling of the program.

“I can carry a weapon in Louisiana and Florida and fly an F-15, but the government is trying to prevent me from carrying a gun in an airplane,” he said.

Sproc said he hopes APSA’s efforts will create a push to beef up the program, which currently trains 50 pilots a week at one facility. At that rate, it will take 40,000 pilots nationwide seeking to enroll in the program 15 years to be certified.

“We would like this program moved to the FBI, and we hope that by this time next year we won’t need to have another press conference as more of our pilots are flying armed,” said Sproc.

At the same time the APSA talked to reporters, the Transportation Security Administration also held a simultaneous press conference at Miami International Airport displaying the dangerous items that have been discovered in passengers’ luggage over the past few months. 

“Razor blades hidden in tennis shoes, an artificial leg hollowed out to hide a bayonet, and a handgun taped to the side of a similarly shaped drill in an effort to foil X-ray equipment are among the weapons that some passengers have recently tried to sneak past Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security screeners,” stated a TSA press release.

Calls to the TSA were not returned by press time.

In the meantime, the pilots of APSA are making every effort to tell people that carrying a gun is not a mere convenience.

“I personally think I need it,” said the pilot. “I don’t think anyone’s going to get on an airplane with plastic knives if there’s a gun in the cockpit.”