Copyright 2002 The Washington Post

The Washington Post
June 27, 2002 Thursday
Final Edition
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A09

LENGTH: 563 words

HEADLINE: House Panel Passes Bill That Would Arm Pilots

BYLINE: Sara Kehaulani Goo, Washington Post Staff Writer

BODY:


After a House committee yesterday approved a bill that would give some pilots guns, a flight attendants union angrily charged that the measure "smacks of sexism" because it does not provide enough self-defense training for its members.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee voted to pass a measure that would create a two-year program to gradually arm about 1,400 commercial pilots. The committee also approved an amendment by Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the panel's aviation subcommittee, that would provide some hands-on and classroom training for flight attendants, but not enough to satisfy the Association of Flight Attendants, the nation's largest union of flight attendants.

"By passing this bill as it stands now, the House would in effect be saying 'We trust guys with guns, but not women trained to defend themselves,' " Patricia Friend, president of the union, said in a statement.

Friend said the bill suggested that "flight attendants should just keep on smiling and serving drinks in an attempt to subdue the terrorists through kindness."

Flight attendants unions have said they are uneasy about the idea of arming pilots unless the cockpit door is kept shut and locked and the airlines give them extensive self-defense training.

For weeks, some flight attendants have privately complained that lawmakers were giving priority to pilots' concerns over their own because most pilots are men and most flight attendants are women. The union decided to raise the gender issue publicly yesterday, after the committee failed to require that attendants get extensive self-defense training.

Debbi Golombek, a flight attendant based in New York who declined to name her employer, said that when she is working, she feels vulnerable to hijackers, and yet she has received only a half-day of training from an airline supervisor and watched a video on the subject.

"What we want is thorough, comprehensive meaningful training," Golombek said. "We're taught how to pour coffee, we're taught how to serve international passengers -- the least they could be doing is give us some useful tools" to prevent a hijacking.

Under the bill passed yesterday by the committee, the Transportation Security Administration would initially allow 250 pilots to carry guns. Pilots would receive substantial training on how to handle guns, similar to that given to federal air marshals. After two years, the TSA could decide to cancel the program or expand it.

The House bill would exempt airlines and pilots from liability in the event of a gun misfiring.

Mica's amendment would provide an unspecified amount of training for flight attendants. The flight attendants want 28 hours of training and a director position established within the TSA to oversee flight crew self-defense. They also want small classes, with a student-teacher ratio of 12 to 1.

Mica said that he will talk to other members about including more training for flight attendants.

Asked about the sexism claim, Mica said flight attendants "don't gain any points with me when they do that juvenile . . . campaign."

The House is expected to take up the bill in July. Aides to House Democrats and Republicans said they expect the bill to pass. But a Senate version faces tough opposition from Sen. Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.), chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

LOAD-DATE: June 27, 2002