DAVID LEARMOUNT / LONDON
Aviation organisations in North America and overseas view decision to arm as potentially hazardous
The potentially imminent approval for US airline pilots to carry handguns has caused dismay among aviation organisations in North America and overseas.
The International Air Transport Association has consistently been against arming flight crew for many reasons, but primarily because of the potential for the guns to "get into the wrong hands".
IATA's director general Giovanni Bisignani says: "How does an airline that requires armed sky marshals or pilots handle the flight's arrival in a country which forbids weapons in both aeroplanes and public places?"
Earlier this month, the US Senate followed the lead of the House of Representatives' July vote by recording a massive majority in favour of arming pilots with handguns (Flight International, 10-16 September).
Even some US aircrew are against the plan, with a veteran US airline pilot saying a firearm in the cockpit "creates a temptation for flight crews to open the cockpit door in dangerous and chaotic situations. Those are precisely the times a cockpit door should remain closed".
US President George Bush, originally opposed to the policy, has indicated he may approve a trial period in which a limited number of pilots are trained to carry arms in the cockpit.
The US Air Line Pilots Association and the majority of its members wants pilots to be armed if they wish it, subject to appropriate training. But there are dissenters.
Firearms security on the ground seems to be the main obstacle to final White House approval. The President wants studies made about the logistics of transporting the "lock-up boxes" carrying the pilots' guns through airports, because locking them up in safes in the cockpit has been rejected.
The USA's airline trade body the Air Transport Association also does not want pilots armed, being concerned about cost and security issues. The first-year cost alone is estimated at $850 million, and the airlines would be expected to foot the bill.
Canadian Transport Minister David Collenette says guns in cockpits actually bring danger rather than alleviating it. The UK Department for Transport says the USA faces having to negotiate with every country it flies to on the "logistical and legal" arrangements for handling the firearms on arrival.
Source: Flight International
