Security measures for airlines debated

WASHINGTON – There was a time when airline pilots were advised to cooperate with a hijacker in hopes that nobody got hurt.

Fly to Cuba? Sure thing!

That all changed on Sept. 11, when hijacking terrorists smashed two commercial jumbo jets into the 110-story World Trade Center towers in New York and used another plane to cut a deadly gash into the Pentagon.

Pilots now are saying that if they took handguns into airplane cockpits then they could help make sure similar catastrophes never happen again.

“Historically, most aircraft hijackings were used as a means of extortion,” Duane Woerth, head of the Airline Pilots Association, told a key congressional committee on Tuesday. “Today, we are dealing with terrorist suicidal operations. The cockpit must be defended, and pilots must play a pivotal role in protecting their place of work.”

Woerth took part in a House transportation aviation subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, where witnesses and lawmakers discussed airline security in the wake of the terrorist attacks two weeks ago that left nearly 7,000 presumed dead. During the hearing, Woerth, a Northwest Airlines 747-series captain, said members of his association overwhelmingly support the idea for carrying laser-sighted stun guns to defend themselves and passengers against airborne terror.

The association, which represents 67,000 pilots in the United States and Canada, also suggests allowing pilots to become federal law enforcement officers with power to arrest lawbreakers and carry weapons after going through a training process and meeting certain qualifications.

Rep. John Baldacci, a member of the subcommittee, said during a break in the hearing that he might be open to the possibility of providing some sort of “emergency kit” for use in a “last ditch emergency” situation, but would prefer exploring other options first. More importantly, he said, responsibilities for frontline security should be given to an expanded sky marshal program that would post law enforcement officers on domestic flights as part of a broader set of new safety measures now being considered at airports and on airplanes.

“This will not only provide security to the passengers, but also will help to restore public confidence in flying,” the congressman said.

Baldacci also is urging that security precautions at airports and airlines be federalized, something supported by the airline industry’s Air Transport Association. “We have seen we don’t have the capacity to deal with terrorism,” said John M. Meenan, senior vice president of the group. “Only the federal government does.”

Although the federal government establishes security guidelines, the responsibilities for enforcement are given to private security firms that contract with airlines to inspect baggage and passengers. The approach is coming under increasing scrutiny because many of the workers at airport scanners earn salaries just above minimum wage, receive little training, and are frequently ineffective.

According to one government investigation last year by the General Accounting Office, screeners failed to find 20 percent of all dangerous objects that investigators hid in baggage.

By handing security responsibilities to a federal agency, Baldacci said that a standard of uniformity would be established and the communication between federal law enforcement and airport authorities would be improved.

“The people who do the screening need to be in the information loop so they know about suspected terrorists,” he said.

Baldacci also wants to explore approaches to improving how airport employees such as food service providers, baggage handlers and others are trained and hired.

Costs for improved security measures would need to be paid in part by the airlines, he said.

Sen. Olympia J. Snowe is backing similar recommendations and has thrown her support behind a bipartisan measure that also would federalize airport security, beef up the air marshal program, reinforce cockpit doors and improve passenger screening. The bill also calls for background checks on students at flight schools learning to fly large jets.

Additionally, the legislation seeks to create an Aviation Security Council that would include representatives of the FAA, U.S. Departments of Justice and Defense, and the Central Intelligence Agency, to coordinate national security, intelligence and aviation security information, and make recommendations for additional improvements.

Congressional leaders discussed various approaches to beefing up airport security with White House officials on Tuesday morning, but President Bush is waiting for several task force reports due Oct. 1 from Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta, who predicts that federalizing airport screening would add 28,000 new employees to the government payroll.