US to allow arming of airline pilots

The US administration plans to adopt a small-scale test programme of arming commercial pilots, reversing its previous opposition to guns in the cockpit.

The administration is modelling its plan after similar proposals that circulated in Congress this summer. One such plan would have armed as many as 1,400 pilots, around 2% of those flying.

One government official said yesterday that the administration was on the brink of announcing the decision.

Transportation Undersecretary John Magaw, who headed the new Transportation Security Administration until July, said in May he would not allow pilots to carry guns.

Reinforced cockpits and armed air marshals provide enough protection against terrorists who try to take over an aeroplane, Mr Magaw said.

But in July, Congress voted to allow commercial pilots to carry guns, giving the proposal momentum, and Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said soon afterward that he was re-examining the issue.

The administration is striving to reach a compromise between two camps – those who strongly oppose arming pilots, arguing, as Mr Magaw did, that the government has already strengthened cockpit doors, bolstered airport security and is adding air marshals – and those who want all pilots armed, a government official said. NBC first reported the administration plan last night.

The airlines generally opposed plans to arm pilots, while the pilots’ union and the National Rifle Association backed such proposals.