Manufacturing Industry

Gun certification programme for pilots going slowly - claim

Airline Industry Information, March 15, 2005

Supporters of the gun certification for pilots on US commercial flights claim that the Bush administration is making it unnecessarily difficult for crews to take guns into the cockpit.

Pilots estimate that between 4,000 and 4,500 have been trained and deputized to carry guns since the Federal Flight Deck Officer programme began in April 2003, which is about three times as many as a year ago, but just a small proportion of the 95,000 pilots who fly for US airlines.

In order to take part in the programme pilots must volunteer, take a psychological test and complete a week-long firearms training programme run by the government to keep a gun in the cockpit. According to the pilots, psychological testing and background checks are unnecessary since pilots have been carefully checked by their airlines to be able to fly commercial jets.

In 2004 Congress failed to pass a bill that would speed the application and training process, and let the pilots with military or law enforcement backgrounds carry guns immediately, reports The Associated Press.

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