The Sacramento Bee from Sacramento, California • 28

The Sacramento Bee Friday April 1 8 2003 The first federal training class for armed 1 1 pilots is taking place this week in Georgia with a graduation ceremony set for this weekend Below Transportation Security Administration instructors train volunteer 1 pilots to disarm a potential hijacker during a weapon retention class At left pilots learn how to disarm a hijacker -s Associated PressStephen Morton Ptoteo different student says A28 CONTINUED FROM A1 eral Flight Deck Officer program organized by the ransportation Security Administration idea is to protect the flight deck at all Another of the students a 14-year veteran of the industry who like her classmates was not allowed to give her name or identify her employer said that a different world and that she needed a gun defend my passengers to defend my The many other federal aviation precautions taken since the suicide hijackings of Sept 11 2001 had been useful including the reinforcement of cockpit doors she said not Assuming they all complete the week-long course of weapons and counterterrorism training required by Congress when it decided last year to allow pilots to carry guns these 43 men and three women will be back in their cockpits with guns when they return to work as early as next week They will be followed by thousands more airline pilots expected to seek the special gun permits in years to come But before they get the right to carry firearms onboard they must prove themselves this week to instructors like Don Garron a Transportation Security Administration expert who pitted teams of the T-shirted pilots against each other Thursday afternoon guys bad and asked them to wrestle with red plastic knives and toy guns to stab your he barked at a classroom of about 20 pilots some in good physical shape others pot-bellied and sweating as they picked themselves up off blue mats set across the floor want you to shove the knife into their gut" Garron yelled urging the pilots to pretend that an attacker had tried to raid a cockpit in the cabin in the flight Officials here of the Transportation Security Administration which had initially joined with the airline industry in opposing the idea of arming pilots say they have come to believe that weapons in the cockpit could bolster safety is a new level of said John Moran deputy assistant administrator for law enforcement and security believe that this is going to be a very strong deterrent to anybody who might want to reach a He said that the first class of pilots represented some of the finest aviators in the industry and that several of them had had distinguished military careers Some pilots in the program acknowledged that they knew of colleagues who for a variety of physical and emotional reasons should not carry guns onto an airline even though they were more than competent to fly safely think there are a lot of cops Who be carrying a said Stephen Luckey a former 747 pilot for Northwest Airlines who is now a safety specialist with the Air Line Pilots Association and joined in the training for most pilots this is long overdue This will add to the protection of our passen- gress as a legacy of Sept 11 the pilots are not required to tell their employers about their participation in the training until after they have graduated That reflects an effort to protect the privacy should they fail to complete the program which includes a criminal background check and a psychological examination The Transportation Security Administration said that 48 pilots had begun the class this week and that two had left for reasons that instructors would not explain to reporters invited to witness the training on Thursday The pilots who complete the course which also includes lectures with names like Psychology of Survival" each take home the 40-caliber pistol a supply of ammunition a holster and a metal lockbox Under the conditions of the program pilots will be required to carry the weapon into the plane in the lockbox covered in a cloth bag and to take the gun out of the lockbox only after they are in the cockpit If they travel home as a passenger instead of in the cockpit the guns would be carried inside the lockboxes in special areas of a cargo hold and extensive weapons training before joining the airlines The first class of students in the Flight Deck Officer program was selected from volunteers who were nominated by the Air Line Pilots Association the major union and a smaller pilots group Pilots groups had been pressing for years for the right to arm pilots even before the Sept 1 1 attacks over the objections of their employers who have insisted that the presence of guns in the cockpits raises safety issues and could distract pilots from their central jobs Under the program approved by Con to reach out to families: Hissing: Agencies urged I Investigators say she was last seen on the boulevard getting into a pickup truck painted black with primer about 12:30 aib'oq May 22 2001 Sacramento Police Depart ment detectives followeckwhat leads they had even working with state and federal agencies said Sgt Justin Risley adtepArtj ment spokesman jkj Hospitals were notified kbput condition he saiC' do as much as you and hope that something fcoiqqs he said She would never leave hdf chTK dren and she never failed cal) her relatives even if it was ask for diaper money Innen was a good bigheSrl her grandmother was special to us There are 38300 -nusslpg adults nationwide according federal statistics PasquahmsaEf Of those 3745 are women between the ages' of 21 and 29 including Peterson ajjd Evans I p- A The MS Enkoji caribe reached at (916) 321-1 l06of-rfj menkoji sacbee com 5 relatives had to work would post fliers by themselves Kimberly Evans 45 cannot talk publicly about her missing daughter because her emotions overwhelm her when she does her relatives said She has been living with her sister Innen and her mother Holden since she lost an eye in an accident a few years ago and could no longer work at her print shop job Her husband died from cancer a few years before their daughter disappeared gets angry and upset and then said Holden who routinely calls coroners up and down the state about unclaimed bodies When Kimberly Evans saw the news about the discovery of the two bodies on the rim of the San Francisco Bay she bolted disappearing for a vhile to a special spot close to the bay said Innen 46 a clothing store manager who lives in Dixon explain what this has done to she said Angelina Evans was living in a motel on Stockton Boulevard when she disappeared her relatives said Levy also a Modesto woman had just finished a federal internship in Washington DC when she disappeared in 2001 Her remains were found in a Washington park on May 22 2002 a year from the day Angelina Evans disappeared No cause of death could be determined and no one has been arrested in her murder Agencies and organizations in the business of helping people find missing relatives need to be available for all families Pas-quahni said as agencies need to be sensitive to these cases that get the attention they she said need to reach out to them and not wait for them to come to Phoenix-based organization was the only one to consistently keep in touch with the Evans family family members said In hopes of finding clues about her daughter Kimberly Evans spent hours driving up and down Stockton Boulevard in Sacramento sometimes sleeping in her car rather than leave the street where her only child was last seen She and a niece other CONTINUED FROM A1 The frenzied focus on the missing Modesto woman the scores of volunteers who searched for Peterson and the scrutiny of dozens of authorities never came way said her family who have soldiered on to find her kind of said Delores Holden 70 grandmother I know not the only How the names of some missing children and adults come to be ingrained in the national consciousness while others -can be grossly unfair said Kim Pasqualini president of The Missing Children Organization Center for Missing Adults dynamics of each case is so Pasqualini said Police investigations into reports of missing persons often are hampered when the victim has a volatile lifestyle or a history of unpredictable behavior she said Likewise the ability to attract media attention to a missing person can be difficult for some families especially those bogged down with other problems she said The most vulnerable to violence generally middle-class people with stable life Evans family Angelina Evans was eight months pregnant and the mother of five when she disappeared near her motel on Stockton Boulevard in May 2001 Her family has continued to look for clues ever since bodies that were found about a mile apart on the San Francisco Bay shoreline Sunday and Monday Autopsies revealed no cause of death and further testing is under way styles she said it is unfortunate that it takes a Chandra Levy or a Laci Peterson case to grab the she said Authorities are conducting DNA tests to identify both of the CONING IN THE BEE i MONDAY TUESDAY! SUNDAY- HBE I FAMILY HEALTH SCENE Dress for success With the NBA playoffs nearly here how do the eight Western Conference coaches rate when it comes to their attire? Bee fashion writer Leigh Grogan takes a look at the dapper dressers and jr those who could use a little help SCENE 'Idol' worship America still loves its Though some pop-culture experts predicted that interest in would sag in the show's second season the program is just as popular as ever With the field of finalists now narrowed to six we explore why the worshippers are still watching Life Captured daily The Sacramento Bee MCtafeCOff) NBA PLAYOFFS The Finals Frontier After winning their second straight Pacific Division championship the Kings are about to embark on their fifth consecutive tnp to the playoffs This time the team thinks it has what it takes to win first championship The playoff preview will look at the first-round opponent and how the Western and Eastern conferences stack up Views of America We look at America through the eyes of three international exchange students chronicling their nine-month stay an experience that includes sports boyfriends run-ins with host parents chaos at Sacramento High School trips to San Francisco and Washington and hanging out in Old Sacramento and Downtown Plaza How they see us might surprise you fc A.