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Gun Grounds Pilot

Aired January 21, 2003 - 14:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with guns in cockpits, an idea Congress approved, and a Northwest Airlines pilot allegedly embraced a little prematurely.
CNN's Mike Brooks has the story of the handgun that landed a pilot in handcuffs and grounded a 757 -- Mike.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kyra.

Early this morning at La Guardia Airport in New York City, a 43- year-old Northwest Airlines pilot, Robert Donaldson, was arrested as he attempted to go through a security checkpoint with a loaded 9 millimeter handgun in his luggage. The pilot was scheduled to be flying from La Guardia to Detroit, but the flight was canceled. We looked on Northwest's Web site, it says canceled due to no flight crew available. I'd say that was definitely the case.

He was arrested for possession of a weapon. It was actually criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, which can get him up to seven years in prison. He's to be arraigned by the queen's district attorney this evening in New York City -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And, Mike, still no word -- we haven't heard from this pilot, or sources haven't talked about why this man says he needed to have a gun?

BROOKS: We have not heard the reason he was carrying a gun onto the plane that he was due to fly on to Detroit. As you said earlier, there is a bill that has been signed by the president that enables pilots to carry weapons in the cockpit. But that program has not been put in place yet.

Now the Transportation Security Administration has to have this program in place by February 25th. They have to come up with the criteria for selection of pilots, the training of pilots, who will pay for the weapons, where exactly they'll carry the weapons, will they leave them in the cockpit after the flight, will carry it with them in their flight kit? There's a lot of questions still to be answered, and this program is still not in place. So this pilot was definitely in violation of the law by trying to carry this weapon onto a flight.

PHILLIPS: Mike Brooks, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired January 21, 2003 - 14:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with guns in cockpits, an idea Congress approved, and a Northwest Airlines pilot allegedly embraced a little prematurely.
CNN's Mike Brooks has the story of the handgun that landed a pilot in handcuffs and grounded a 757 -- Mike.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kyra.

Early this morning at La Guardia Airport in New York City, a 43- year-old Northwest Airlines pilot, Robert Donaldson, was arrested as he attempted to go through a security checkpoint with a loaded 9 millimeter handgun in his luggage. The pilot was scheduled to be flying from La Guardia to Detroit, but the flight was canceled. We looked on Northwest's Web site, it says canceled due to no flight crew available. I'd say that was definitely the case.

He was arrested for possession of a weapon. It was actually criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, which can get him up to seven years in prison. He's to be arraigned by the queen's district attorney this evening in New York City -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And, Mike, still no word -- we haven't heard from this pilot, or sources haven't talked about why this man says he needed to have a gun?

BROOKS: We have not heard the reason he was carrying a gun onto the plane that he was due to fly on to Detroit. As you said earlier, there is a bill that has been signed by the president that enables pilots to carry weapons in the cockpit. But that program has not been put in place yet.

Now the Transportation Security Administration has to have this program in place by February 25th. They have to come up with the criteria for selection of pilots, the training of pilots, who will pay for the weapons, where exactly they'll carry the weapons, will they leave them in the cockpit after the flight, will carry it with them in their flight kit? There's a lot of questions still to be answered, and this program is still not in place. So this pilot was definitely in violation of the law by trying to carry this weapon onto a flight.

PHILLIPS: Mike Brooks, thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com