Up, locked, and loaded

Should guns be allowed in the cockpit? Possibly, says Salon's aviation expert, but not at the expense of other solutions to air terror.

By Patrick Smith

Jul 12, 2002 | Are you for or against the plan to allow guns in the cockpit?

The seminal question is: Would an armed flight crew have thwarted last fall's skyjackers? Many pilots, including the world's largest pilot union, the Air Line Pilots Association, believe it would have.

"Unable to defend our cockpits, thousands of Americans died on 9/11 in spite of our warnings," reads an ALPA statement. "The terrorists took control of our aircraft because they knew American pilots were unarmed and helpless in their own cockpits." In the words of Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, "9/11 would not have happened if that pilot had had a gun."

ALPA and other unions embarked on a full-throttle campaign to legislate the arming of pilots, and were rewarded on July 10 when the U.S. House of Representatives ruled overwhelmingly in their favor.

But is the underlying presumption that guns in the cockpit would have prevented the air terror attacks of Sept. 11 actually correct? Certainly, unfortified flight decks made it easier for skyjackers armed only with box-cutters and knives, but the men could just as well have resorted to more lethal, more carefully choreographed means of overtaking the pilots and flight attendants. Intent on commandeering or destroying airliners, a gang of clever enough terrorists probably would have found a way.

There are plenty of reasons why arming pilots makes sense, but there are also plenty of reasons why it doesn't. For every act of violence deterred by a pilot with a loaded gun, there may be another that is actually created by the presence of firearms in the cockpit. Ultimately, debate over the issue is as much ideological as it is practical -- if you're pro gun, you're pro guns in the cockpit. But the real question should be: Is arming pilots the best way to stop hijackers? And that's not clear at all.

ALPA, backed by most of its 59,000 members, initially endorsed something called House Resolution 4635, the Arming Pilots Against Terrorism Act. This came after a May 21 conclusion by John Magaw, director of the newly formed Transportation Security Administration, that refused to authorize the arming of pilots, an opinion more or less in keeping with the Bush administration's position. Bush, meanwhile, has not stated an intent to veto any congressional approval of the idea, should the Senate follow the House's lead.

The House resolution backed by ALPA, aggressive and provocative as it may have appeared at first glance, was in fact a cautious one. Rather than immediately handing out side arms to each of the nation's 70,000 airline pilots, the union's "Qualified to Fly -- Qualified to Defend" campaign (watch for stickers on those black leather flight cases soon) asked for a two-year test period during which a maximum of 2 percent of pilots, about 1,400 in all, would be voluntarily trained and deputized. Rules and protocols would be laid out by the Transportation Security Administration, while pilots with military and/or law enforcement backgrounds would get preferential selection.

Lawmakers from both sides, however, found the measure inadequate, removing both the trial period and the 2 percent cap. "What sense does it make to arm a tiny, tiny fraction of them?" asked Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore. This paves the way for the widespread distribution of weapons to pilots, albeit on a voluntary basis. Airlines would offer pilots the option of carrying either a handgun or nonlethal stun gun, pilots reserving the right to refuse either.

Many people are uneasy at the prospect of flight crews packing heat beneath their blue polyester jackets. The idea of an airline employee -- even one with a combat background entrusted to operate jet aircraft -- appropriating the role of law enforcement officer does not sit well with everybody.

But it is not by definition a bad idea. Importantly, the role of onboard guns will not be to break up squabbles or scare unruly passengers into submission. While episodes of air rage are indeed potentially dangerous, brandishing a weapon is to be an absolute last resort tactic used only after a cockpit has been trespassed. The point is to save the airplane. "Once deputized," explains a pilot for a major U.S. airline, "our jurisdiction will be only in the cockpit."

Next Page: Are ex-military airline pilots leading the charge?

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