Pilots Packing Heat: TSA soliciting volunteers for armed pilot program

Even as the controversy around the issue of arming pilots continues its tornadic swirl, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is soliciting additional pilot volunteers for the program.

The Arming Pilots Against Terrorism Act (APATA) was passed as part of the Homeland Security Act of 2002. The law mandated the TSA “establish a program to select, train, deputize, equip, and supervise volunteer pilots of air carriers for the purpose of defending the flight decks of passenger aircraft against acts of criminal violence and air piracy.”

The agency has now made available an online application process for pilots wishing to undergo training to become federal flight deck officers (FFDOs). The online application page is available through the TSA web site at www.tsa.dot.gov. The agency has also published a list of qualification criteria those interested must meet.

According to the TSA, applicants must be active line pilots holding a current Air Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate or CP (Commerical Pilot) airmen certification, current medical certification, and must be flying domestic routes for a commercial air carrier with a full security program under Part 1544 and subject to TSA screening. At the current time, the FFDO program is only open to pilots of passenger aircraft.

If a pilot meets the eligibility requirements for the FFDO program, the first step to volunteer is for the pilot to the complete an online questionnaire. To receive a volunteer questionnaire, the pilot will be required to provide his or her ATP or CP pilot certificate number and other information for confirmation of eligibility and for identification purposes. Eligible volunteers will be directed to the volunteer questionnaire on a secure Web site. Once a volunteer completes and submits the questionnaire, the TSA will evaluate it. At a later date, TSA will notify the volunteer as to his or her status and the next step(s).

The TSA has published the following thumbnail sketch of program requirments and FFDO training highlights:

Initial training will be conducted in a one-week session that will typically require volunteers to arrive mid-afternoon on a Sunday and remain through conclusion of training the following Saturday afternoon
All trainees must be present for the entire training session
All trainees must attend the training on their own time and at their own expense
Successful completion of training is required for deputation
Re-qualification will be required twice a year
All trainees must participate in required re-qualification activities on their own time and at their own expense confidential

Much of the information related to this program is considered Sensitive Security Information and as such cannot be disclosed publicly. The following additional information is releasable and provided for interested volunteers to review prior to submitting an application.

A pilot’s employing air carrier will be allowed to offer input into the selection process, but TSA will decide whether a pilot is qualified (i.e., air carriers do not have a “veto”).

TSA says it will protect the records of FFDO applicants and FFDOs from public disclosure to the full extent of the law and in accordance with required procedures. However, the TSA states it will disclose information as required by law or court order and may disclose information necessary to ensure transportation security or public safety, including 1) to the FAA, if it relates to an FAA certification; 2) to an air carrier or airport operator, as it relates to requirements for required credentials or access to aircraft or secured areas of airports; or 3) to necessary persons, if the TSA determines that there is an imminent danger or threat to public safety. The agency says it will determine which pilots successfully complete the training program and may be deputized as FFDOs.

Deputation will be for a period of five years, unless suspended or revoked earlier. FFDOs will be Federal law enforcement officers only for the limited purposes of carrying firearms and using force to defend the flight deck of an aircraft from air piracy or criminal violence, including lethal force.

FFDOs will not be not granted or authorized to exercise other law enforcement powers, such as the power to make arrests or seek or execute warrants for arrest or seizure of evidence, or to otherwise act as FFDOs outside aircraft flight decks. FFDOs will be issued credentials to identify themselves to law enforcement and security personnel, but will not be issued metal badges.

According to the TSA, FFDOs will be issued firearms and other necessary equipment and will be responsible for the “readiness and security of their firearms and equipment.” Officers may transport secured firearms, in any state and to any state, to or from a flight on which they will be the pilot in command or second in command, or to or from activities approved by TSA as necessary for participation in the program.

Not surprisingly, the TSA frowns on the purchase, possession, and use of drugs and alcohol by flight deck officers when in possession of a firearm and for a period of time before they transport the firearm. Additionally, the agency requires that FFDOs submit to inspection of their credentials by authorized TSA employees and law enforcement officers as required.

FFDOs may be suspended or removed from the program, and/or fined civil penalties, which are currently up to $10,000 per violation, as appropriate.

FFDOs and air carriers employing such pilots are not eligible for compensation from the government for participation in any aspect of the program. Air carriers determine whether to provide their pilots time off for FFDO training and activities.

“A Federal flight deck officer shall not be liable for damages in any action brought in a Federal or state court arising out of acts or omissions of the officer defending the flight deck of an aircraft against acts of criminal violence or air piracy unless the officer is guilty of gross negligence or willful misconduct,” so says the TSA.

According to the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), 44 airline pilots completed the first training class, described by ALPA as “a grueling, one-week course of Federal Flight Deck Officer training.” The classes were held at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) at the former Glynco Naval Air Station near Brunswick, GA, which also houses an established weapons training facility for federal law enforcement agencies. Upon graduation, they were deputized as federal law enforcement officers and issued federal credentials, a firearm, and other equipment.

“Thus was realized the initial reward of many months of hard lobbying and campaigning for a program that few in government or industry gave more than a slight chance of succeeding,” said ALPA in an announcement of the first graduation class.

But all is not smooth cruising with the TSA’s armed pilot program as media reports disclosed agency plans for relocating the training center and changing leadership of the program. The reports resulted in harsh criticism of the TSA from both pilots and politicians.

In early June, USA Today reported the agency had terminated Willie Ellison, head of the TSA Academy, and said the TSA was planning to move the training center from Georgia to New Mexico. Bob Lambert, president of the Airline Pilots Security Alliance (APSA), said the TSA changes were evidence the agency was employing a “delaying tactic” in an effort to derail the program. Criticism from Washington was also swift in response to the news.

“It’s one more bureaucratic disaster devised by those who want to make this more complex and expensive than it has to be. I don’t know what their ulterior motive is, but it is very frustrating,” said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla, chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Aviation Subcommittee.

But TSA spokesman Robert Johnson told USA Today a new training class of about 50 pilots would begin at Glynco in July with the program moving to New Mexico later in the summer due to lack of space at the Georgia site. Not all were satisfied by this explanation, however.

“No attempt was made to rationalize the waste of money spent on setting up the program in Georgia and then moving it to New Mexico. It is just another attempt by the administration to disrupt the program at the behest of the airlines who have always opposed arming pilots,” said subcommittee ranking Democrat Peter DeFazio of Oregon.

ALPA president Duane Woerth has also been critical of the current requirment that flight deck weapons remain in a lockbox, out of reach of pilots, except when in the cockpit.

“Anyone with at least a modicum of firearms experience knows that accidental discharges are most likely to occur when the weapon is handled and its condition is changed. For the sake of safety, we urge Congress to correct this handling issue,” he said in testimony prepared for the House Aviation Subcommittee.