Editor’s Note: This week’s essay comes from someone whose name I must withhold due to operational security. As a rule, I don’t post columns to PoliceOne under an anonymous byline, and I never accept contributions from anonymous sources, but in this case I personally know this individual (and consider him a friend) and can vouch for his status. In PoliceOne “First Person” essays, our Members and Columnists candidly share their own unique view of the world. This is a platform from which individual officers can share their own personal insights on issues confronting cops today, as well as opinions, observations, and advice on living life behind the thin blue line. If you want to share your own perspective with other P1 Members, simply send us an e-mail with your story.
Author’s Name Withheld (OPSEC)
The Federal Flight Deck Officers Association
You ran through the crazy maze of airport security and jumped through all the hoops (boy, that was fun — it’s easier getting into the county jail!) and now you’re checking in with the Captain of your flight when he tells you, “We’re always happy to have a LEO in the cabin. By the way, my First Officer is an FFDO.”
“An F-F what?” you hear yourself say. “What’s an FFDO?
I’m glad you asked.
In the simplest terms, an FFDO (short for Federal Flight Deck Officer) is a pilot with a gun. He’s there for the purpose of defending the cockpit against terrorists or criminals who might want to gain control of the aircraft, and if you’re going to fly armed as a LEO on commercial aircraft, it would probably be helpful for you to know a little bit more about these guys and how they operate.
Born In Crisis
The Federal Flight Deck Officer program was instituted by Congressional law in 2002, in response to the devastating 9/11 attacks of the year before which killed nearly 3,000 of our countrymen.
On that fateful day in 2001, 19 terrorists attacked the cockpits of four different commercial aircraft, commandeered them, and committed mass murder, paralyzing the nation’s transportation system and changing the face of national security forever.
These terrorists faced no armed opposition because the FAA “Sky Marshal” program had withered on the vine by the mid 1970s and the Federal Air Marshal Service which later replaced it lacked funding and had only grown to an end-strength of about 33 armed officers by the time of the September 2001 attack.
Furthermore, the airline pilots themselves had been thoroughly disarmed by the same protectionist forces arrayed against your agency today (you know, the ones who want to take away your batons, restraint holds, OC spray, TASERs, and everything else that works and replace them with “verbal judo”) despite a history of responsible, armed behavior.
It’s one of history’s supreme ironies that the law which authorized the arming of airline pilots (who had been flying safely with guns since the birth of commercial aviation in the 1920s) was stricken from the books only a month before the deadly 9/11 attack.
The lesson was clear — the good guys need to be armed.
So in the wake of the 9/11 attack, the President and Congress acted quickly to expand the Federal Air Marshal Service, and Congress wrote the law that would give birth to the Federal Flight Deck Officer Program. The “Arming Pilots Against Terrorism Act” (APATA) was sent to the President, who signed it into law in November 2002. The newly formed Transportation Security Agency (TSA) would encounter delays implementing the program, but by the end of 2003 there would be a small group of FFDOs flying the line, with the numbers growing every day. Soon, the number of FFDOs would surpass the number of Federal Air Marshals, despite the rapid, overnight growth of that agency.
The Nature of an FFDO
It’s important to know that an FFDO is a sworn, federal law enforcement officer. They are not peace officers, investigators, air marshals or private security — they are pilots who are also sworn, federal law enforcement officers with a narrowly defined mission and law enforcement authority.
They don’t respond to calls, make arrests, or investigate crimes, but they do have jurisdictional authority to use force, including deadly force, to defend the cockpit from hostile threats.
The Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) which guides FFDO operations places some strenuous limitations on FFDOs, to include the requirement that they treat their identities as FFDOs as Sensitive Security Information (SSI), releasable only to those with a demonstrated “need to know.”
As a result, FFDOs are exceptionally discrete about their status and the details of the program, which is a big part of why you’ve never heard much about them or their mission before.
The Training of an FFDO
Federal Flight Deck Officers attend an abbreviated law enforcement academy at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Artesia, New Mexico. This is the same facility where many other federal agencies send their cadets for training, to include all the Bureau of Indian Affairs tribal police departments and the United States Border Patrol, among others.
The training at FLETC looks a lot like the training you received at your basic academy, except that the subjects which are not relevant to the FFDO mission have been deleted.
Federal Flight Deck Officers receive training in Defensive Tactics, Firearms, Use of Force Policy, Handcuffing and Searching, Weapons Retention, Weapons Disarming, Officer Survival, and other important subjects. We get to skip the modules on Report Writing, Community Policing, Civics, Rules of Evidence, the Judicial System, and other police cadet favorites.
Unfortunately for FFDOs, they still haven’t found a way to justify a lap or two around the emergency vehicle track! Of course, as commercial airline pilots, they also receive training in First Aid, Airborne Fire Fighting, Hazardous Materials, Emergency Scene Management, the FAA’s “Common Strategy,” and other subjects that may assist them in their law enforcement mission.
Besides live fire instruction on the range with their .40 S&W caliber Heckler & Koch pistols, Federal Flight Deck Officers train in realistic cockpit environments with simulated firearms. Some of these environments are indoor simulators, using FATS-type projection systems to evaluate judgment, decision making, and accuracy, while others are outdoor simulators constructed from decommissioned aircraft, manned by aggressive force-on-force role players in protective training suits who attack FFDOs armed with guns that fire inert, training cartridges.
Upon completion of their initial academy training, FFDOs attend semiannual firearms training and qualification, and in-service academy refresher training every three to five years, just as many of you do at your own agencies.
Besides this formal FFDO-specific training, many FFDOs have a wealth of prior experience in the military or law enforcement, and many are avid recreational and competitive shooters.
A large number of FFDOs are seasoned gun carriers as citizens with concealed carry permits, and have attended high level training at the nation’s finest private gun schools, such as Gunsite, Thunder Ranch, Front Sight, and Gabe Suarez and Massad Ayoob’s schools. For the most part, these are “gun guys” who enjoy training with firearms and don’t simply view them as an inescapable part of the job.
Federal Flight Deck Officers like to joke that they have the smallest jurisdiction of any U.S. law enforcement agency (the aircraft) but they take pride in knowing they are among the largest of federal law enforcement agencies. There’s a lot of them out there, flying on commercial passenger and cargo aircraft from all U.S. companies. When they’re not on duty in the cockpit, they often fly in the cabin right alongside you while “Deadheading” or “Commuting,” so the chances are good you will run into one someday as a LEO who is flying armed.
There’s one other thing about FFDOs that is important to know — they are volunteers, every one of them. They are not paid for their service as FFDOs, and bear the costs associated with attending initial, semiannual and in-service training, and maintaining their skills.
They attend FFDO training on their own time, frequently using vacation days to do so.
It’s estimated that it costs the average FFDO upwards of $10,000 over a six year period for the privilege of serving their country as an FFDO.
Think about that. How many guys do you know who would sacrifice their own vacation time and pay that much just to defend and protect people they don’t know? Hopefully that puts the dedication and patriotism of these volunteer officers into perspective.
The FFDO Mission
Federal Flight Deck Officers are not the guys you’re going to call when the local bank alarm goes off at 0300, when you need to make a DUI arrest, or when you need help answering your third domestic disturbance of the night (at the same address, no less). They are not peace officers, and don’t have the training and experience that you do to handle those situations.
On the aircraft though, they’re the best partner you could have.
Federal Flight Deck Officers know every inch of that airplane in a way that nobody else does. In the same way that you know your “beat,” where the hideouts are, who the criminals are and where they can be found, where the weapons come from, and where you can find help when you need it, an FFDO knows the terrain, the threats, and the resources available to him to fight and defeat the enemy.
Have you trained on how to handle an attack on the cockpit in realistic simulations? Have you studied the methods, tactics and equipment of would-be aviation terrorists? Have you considered how you would have to adapt your own law enforcement tactics and methods to the unique operating environment of an airplane in flight? Have you kept yourself updated on the latest intelligence about threats to aviation?
An FFDO has.
An FFDO works in the airport and aircraft environment every day, acquiring unique insights and a level of familiarity and experience with this arena that is unmatched by the ordinary flyer.
Just like you can pick out the things that “don’t belong” on your beat, we can quickly identify the irregularities that might indicate a threat, or just require further investigation. Whereas you have to train for readiness in an ever-increasing variety of environments, we have the luxury of being able to focus all of his training efforts on a single one, leading to a high level of proficiency.
Not only that, in the worst case scenario where the primary crew is injured or the aircraft is damaged in an attack, he has all the necessary training to mitigate the damage, get the aircraft back under control and land it safely.
Part of the Profession
No, FFDOs aren’t police officers and they aren’t trained or experienced in that role, but they’re law enforcement professionals who understand their environment and are well suited to handle their narrowly-focused mission within the confines of their agency’s SOP and Use of Force doctrine.
They take pride in being the “Quiet Professionals” that go unnoticed by the public they protect, as they skillfully execute their mission in the background without fanfare or undue attention.
Perhaps this is why the association which represents FFDOs was welcomed with open arms into the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO), why the National Rifle Association allows FFDOs to compete in law enforcement only shooting matches, and why some FFDOs have been invited to train with law enforcement agencies across the nation.
Federal Flight Deck Officers know they aren’t cops, but they respect those who are and value their relationships with them.
You have a wealth of valuable knowledge and experience as a law enforcement officer, and any FFDO would be thrilled if you shared some of that hard-earned wisdom with them the next time you have a few minutes during boarding, or while waiting in the airport.
Better yet, invite one of them to shoot or train with you and other officers from your agency when they have a day off — you might just teach each other something, and it is guaranteed to be a mutually beneficial experience for both groups.
That’s the way it always is when professionals get together.
Fly safe!
Information about the Federal Flight Deck Officers Association (FFDOA) and the FFDO mission is available at www.ffdoa.org.
