Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company The Boston
Globe
September 16, 2001, Sunday ,THIRD
EDITION
SECTION: NATIONAL/FOREIGN; Pg. A18
LENGTH: 716 words
HEADLINE: FACING TERROR / AIR TRAVEL / SECURITY; SOME WANT TO PUT MARSHALS ON FLIGHTS OR ARM AIRLINE
PILOTS
BYLINE: By Glen Johnson, Globe
Staff
BODY: WASHINGTON - Before
Tuesday, guns were the last thing airline pilots wanted aboard their airplanes.
Now, guns are what they want, either in the hands of trained sky marshals or in
their own.
The four terrorist hijackings that led to
the destruction of the World Trade Center and part of the Pentagon, as well as
the deaths of thousands on board the planes and on the ground, have triggered a
sea change in the government and industry approach to the question of arms and
air travel.
Gone are fears
about a bullet piercing the pressurized cabin of a jetliner. In its place is a
belief that the only way to deter a suicidal hijacker intent on crashing a plane
may be to let him know he could be shot in flight.
"In
the Air Force, fighter crews and bomber crews flew with weapons all the time, a
.45 strapped to them," said Captain William Thompson, a Boeing 737 pilot for
Delta Air Lines and a former Air Force flight instructor. "I wouldn't advocate
strapping on a .45, but in light of what happened, if the cockpit becomes the
last line of defense, it might be a deterrent. I think it's something that would
definitely have to be taken off the back shelf."
The
Federal Aviation Administration said last week that one response to the attacks
will be to expand its sky marshal program, which previously had put armed,
plainclothes security guards on selected international flights.
The broadened program will put more armed guards on domestic flights.
Initially, they will be members of the military and the US Marshals Service,
until more FAA personnel can be trained.
While praising
the step, some say the idea of arming pilots themselves also has to be
considered.
"The Air Line Pilots Association believes
at this point that all bets are off and everything is on the table for
consideration," said Anya Piazza, a spokeswoman for the group, which represents
67,000 pilots at 47 carriers in the United States and Canada.
Arming pilots "may be something that may be down the road," Piazza
said. "But it would be measured. It would be coordinated with the FBI. And we're
certainly not ruling that out at this time."
The idea
is being forcefully advocated by Billie H. Vincent, an airline security
consultant who was director of the FAA's aviation security office from 1982 to
1986.
Vincent wants Congress to approve legislation
authorizing pilots to carry guns, something currently prohibited. He proposes
issuing pilots a standard weapon, giving them comprehensive training, and
issuing special ammunition that would be less likely to trigger an explosive
cabin decompression if a gunfight erupts.
"It's time to
think outside the box," said Vincent. "What I'm advocating here is we put the
pilots in the position of defending themselves."
Vincent headed FAA security during June 1985, when armed hijackers took
control of TWA Flight 847 and diverted it to Beirut, where they executed a US
Navy diver, Robert Stethem. Vincent recalls being in the White House Situation
Room with National Security Adviser John Poindexter and Oliver North, then a
Marine colonel and Poindexter aide, when President Reagan decided to respond by
expanding the federal sky marshal program.
The program
was created in the 1970s to stop hijackings to and from Cuba. The Reagan
expansion added more marshals to international flights, but the corps is
believed to be small. The FAA refuses to provide exact numbers.
The agency said marshals are trained to use as little force as
necessary, but that force can be lethal. They ride in the passenger compartment,
armed and waiting. Their guns are loaded with special ammunition, because a
large-caliber bullet could trigger a pressure loss if it pierced the hull of an
airliner. The marshals fly routinely on international flights, as do marshals
for Israel's El Al and Royal Jordanian Airlines.
The
idea of putting marshals on domestic flights has taken hold in Congress, which
is considering a variety of legislation to increase aviation safety. Senator Kay
Bailey Hutchison, a Texas Republican who was once vice chairman of the National
Transportation Safety Board, said Thursday: "The American public needs to have
the kind of security that an onboard peace officer would provide."
Glen Johnson can be reached by e-mail at
johnson@globe.com.
GRAPHIC: PHOTO, New York Port
Authority K-9 officer James Wells and Benno making a search of luggage at
LaGuardia Airport yesterday, part of the stricter security measures taken at US
airports. / AFP PHOTO
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