Airline Pilots Security Alliance Petitions President Bush
Airline
Pilots' Security Alliance Petitions President Bush for Armed Pilots
Source:
Airline Pilots Security Alliance
http://www.secure-skies.org/
See also:
Pilot
groups unified on arming flight crew
Organizations make written appeal to President Bush
By Jon Dougherty
© 2002 WorldNetDaily.com
April 3, 2002
The Honorable George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
As representatives of the largest airline pilot
organizations in this country, we would like your assistance in the immediate
development and implementation of a program to defend the American traveling
public with voluntarily armed pilots.
Public opinion polls and those within our own
pilot groups indicate overwhelming support for arming flight deck crewmembers
with lethal weapons. Nothing short of lethal force can stop lethal intent to
hijack and destroy our aircraft and murder all on board. Yet the volunteer pilot
arming provisions of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001
that you signed into law on November 19, 2001, are being ignored.
To remedy this situation, we ask for your
assistance in implementing a flight deck protection program that has the
following characteristics:
- All volunteer pilots must be carefully
screened, successfully trained and subsequently designated by a federal law
enforcement agency such as the FBI or TSA.
- Pilots so selected, screened and trained
should be deputized or have the same indemnification and protections
afforded other law enforcement officers in the employ of the U.S.
government.
- Pilots must be certificated in
weapons handling, use of lethal force, carriage policy and
procedure, rules of engagement in all environments, recurrent training, tort
law, and other subjects deemed necessary by the governing authority.
- Choice of weapons and ammunition will be
mandated by the responsible federal agency.
- Certified pilots will draw their weapons
only for use in direct defense of the flight deck in accordance with program
“use of force” rules
If the unthinkable happens again, there must be
a means provided for our flight crews to defeat any hijacker who
breaches the flight deck with a weapon and attempts to destroy the
aircraft. Otherwise, a U.S. fighter may be ordered to shoot down a commercial
airliner full of innocent passengers. America’s pilots must have lethal
weapons as a last line of defense against well-coordinated, highly trained teams
of terrorists.
Each of our pilot groups has independently
assessed and recommended the best way to implement a plan to arm our flight
crews. Each has drawn similar conclusions closely paralleling a proposed
training program developed by the FBI at the request of the Department of
Justice. We have forwarded our specific recommendations through the comment
process requested by the Federal Aviation Administration, and stand ready to
immediately assist your administration in the establishment of such a program.
Sincerely,
Captain Duane Woerth
President
Air Line Pilots Association
Captain John E. Darrah
President
Allied Pilots Association
Captain Tracy Price
President
Airline Pilot Security Alliance
Captain Bob Miller
President
Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations
Captain Jon Weaks
President
Southwest Airlines Pilots’ Association
cc:
Norman Mineta, Secretary of the U.S. DOT
Tom Ridge, Director, Office of Homeland Security
John W. Magaw, Under Secretary of Transportation for Security, U.S. DOT
Robert S. Mueller, Director, FBI
Nicholas Sabatini, Associate Administrator for Regulation & Certification,
FAA
Carol Hallett, President & CEO, Air Transport Association of America
APSA PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
April 4, 2002
Major Pilot Groups Meet To Discuss Arming Airline Pilots
Captain Tracy W. Price, Chairman of APSA, met with high-level officials from the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the Allied Pilots’ Association (APA), the Coalition of Airline Pilots’ Associations (CAPA), the Independent Pilots’ Association (IPA), counter-terrorism experts and others to discuss arming pilots. A letter to President Bush asking for his immediate assistance in implementing a program for arming volunteer pilots with firearms, signed by the leaders of all these groups as well as the President of the Southwest Airlines Pilots’ Association (SWAPA), was presented to Deputy Assistant to the President Chris Henick at the White House.
Captain Price stated, "This meeting and our letter to President Bush indicates the unified resolve of the nation’s 90,000 professional airline pilots on the issue of arming pilots with firearms to counter the terrorist threat. Pilots are not asking for any additional compensation for participation in this program, they only want the opportunity to be screened and trained in the use of firearms as a last and final line of defense of their passengers, crew and innocent citizens on the ground."
Contact Information:
Capt. Tracy W. Price - Chairman
Airline Pilots Security Alliance:
http://www.secure-skies.org/
