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Ajit Jain in Toronto
Canada's commercial airlines pilots are unwilling to carry any firearms with them on board the plane.
They say they are pilots and not gunfighters and therefore they wouldn't carry firearms in their cockpits.
Air Canada Pilots Association, comprising of 3,600 members said despite support from the US-based Air Line Pilots Association, they have now been forced to consider ways of defending 'the cockpit at all costs against attackers', that they 'are not keen on the idea' of carrying arms in the cockpit.
"In a word, no, it's not our position that Air Canada pilots be armed," said Peter foster, ACPA expert on safety and security.
"What are you going to do, turn a cockpit into an armed fortress? .... And in an emergency the pilot is supposed to be flying the plane, not fighting a battle," he added.
Foster suggested that the Canadian government should consider sending trained officers on board the planes in case the threat of suicide hijackers is great enough to warrant armed protection on planes.
"If a security threat is felt by our authorities to be so serious as to require armed presence on aircraft then, by all means, the government can make the decision of providing armed escorts on aircraft," he added.
Informed sources said Canadian government has already started putting on board flight armed marshals, and it could soon be extended to all flights within Canada and out of the country.
The Canadian Pilots Association continues to reject the idea of letting its members carry guns because of the dangers of weapons on planes.
"What would happen if a pilot was relieved of those weapons by the terrorists? What happens if the weapon discharges and it punctures the pressurised aircraft?" asked CPA's chairman, Captain Raymond Hall.
Canadian Transport Minister David Collenette echoing the sentiments of the pilots said, "We're really not moving in the direction of having armed personnel in any guise on airplanes."
Collenette has, however, already ordered that cockpit would be locked as soon as the plane doors are closed and will be opened only after plane exit doors are opened.
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