U.S. Cargo pilots to get handgun training

The U.S. government will begin recruiting and training cargo pilots to carry guns in the cockpit, extending to them a right enjoyed by passenger pilots for almost a year.

Congress created the program to deputize pilots as federal law enforcement officers in late 2002, but had excluded cargo pilots until theysuccessfully lobbied Congress a year later to allow them to join passenger pilots, who fly the same planes that they do, reports the Columbian.
The Transportation Security Administration says it is now ready to accept applications online.

Currently, the U.S. government only requires a small percentage of freight to be checked before being shipped in cargo planes. Air marshals don’t fly aboard cargo planes, and freight-handling areas at airports are said to be not as secure as passenger terminals.

The bill to arm cargo pilots was sponsored by Republican Senator Jim Bunning, Kentucky.

Classes for pilots who volunteer and pass the psychological testing will begin in the spring, said a TSA spokesman.

A little more than a thousand passenger pilots have already been trained and deputized.