There are 85,000-90,000 pilots and crew members eligible to carry a gun in the cockpit of a domestic aircraft as part of the Federal Flight Deck Officers (FFDO) Program run by the TSA. Approximately 10% of these folks currently fly armed. USA Today is running an article on the subject today. 

Now, in a loud-and-clear press release from the Federal Flight Deck Officers Association, these pilots say "TSA PROCEDURES COMPROMISE SAFETY." Further, they call the TSA's program "flawed."

This is owing to the fact that the procedures have been "invented" by TSA, notorious for heavy-handed bureaucratic policies that often ignore common sense as well as educated opinion — in this case of the pilots.

In lieu of the accidental discharge of a firearm in the cockpit of a US Airways plane last month, the pistol packing pilots are now calling for regulators and legislators to see this as a wake-up call. It's time to change TSA's flawed program, they say. They're far from alone. Last week, the Airline Pilots Security Alliance made similar claims.

Why now? The FFDO community has been trying to get TSA to act of these safety issues for years. But the TSA has done nothing. I offer an explanation as to why in a column I wrote for WomensWallStreet a year ago, "Annie Get Your Gun." 

Here's the press release from the Federal Flight Deck Officers Association.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
 
Contact: 
Maryanne DeMarco
(202) 680-0740
 
First Officer Mike Karn
(949) 230-9992
 
TSA PROCEDURES COMPROMISE SAFETY

WASHINGTON, DC – April 1, 2008: When asked about the recent in-flight discharge of a Federal Flight Deck Officer’s (FFDO) weapon, FFDOA President, First Officer Marc Flagg said, “Federal Flight Deck Officers safely flew over 1 million missions last year deterring the attempted use of commercial airliners as weapons of mass destruction.  FFDOA applauds their dedication, professionalism, and patriotism.”
 
Unfortunately, despite repeated warnings from the FFDO community, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has yet to address the operational issues which ultimately contributed to the incident.
 
“This needs to be addressed on a TSA Program level” added Flagg. “We are proud of our partnership with the Federal Air Marshal Service, who manages the FFDO program, but more needs to be done.”  Flagg continued, “As FFDO’s look to their fifth anniversary of defending our passengers, crew and potentially thousands of innocent Americans on the ground, there has been no shortage of viable solutions offered to the TSA by FFDOs”.
 
FFDOA is calling for the immediate implementation of a standard law enforcement weapons carriage policy for FFDOs, which has a proven track record with countless other law enforcement agencies, and would eliminate clearly dangerous and unnecessary TSA mandated practices in the flight deck.
 
“While the recent incident is unfortunate, it should be a wake up call to both the Regulators and the Legislators that the procedures, invented by TSA, are flawed” said FFDOA Executive VP Mike Karn.  He adds, “A standard law enforcement carriage method ensures that the FFDO is not introducing unnecessary actions into the sterile cockpit of an aircraft.”
 
The Federal Flight Deck Officers Association (FFDOA) is a law enforcement trade association that serves, advocates, and represents FFDOs with the TSA and on Capitol Hill.  Many of the members of FFDOA directly contributed to the creation of the Federal Flight Deck Officer Program.
 
For more information visit: www.ffdoa.org

Share This Article