DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are talking more now about airline safety. All morning long, we have focused on the threat of surface to air missiles. But with the recent intelligence reports warning that al Qaeda could attempt another suicide hijacking, pilots are also concerned about how long it now takes them to be trained to carry firearms in the cockpit. That story now from Patty Davis.</s>PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 737 pilot Dave Mackett says he'd like to have a gun in the cockpit, but is holding off on training.</s>DAVE MACKETT, AIRLINE PILOTS SECURITY ALLIANCE: Because there's a whole lot of hoops that pilots are being required to jump through.</s>DAVIS: The Transportation Security Administration admits its latest pilot training class was only three quarters full. But it says it's a scheduling issue and that many pilots are waiting for training to move from Georgia to New Mexico.</s>ROBERT JOHNSON, TSA SPOKESMAN: We have better facilities there. We have actual aircraft that we can train on there. We have a 360 degree firing range that they can use to practice live fire exercises.</s>DAVIS: But Mackett, who has lobbied for guns in the cockpit, as well as pilots unions, say the new training center is too remote, four hours from the closest commercial airport. They also complain extensive background checks and psychological evaluations are discouraging pilots from applying.</s>MACKETT: It's difficult to understand how you can be psychologically qualified and screened by the FAA to fly a commercial airliner but not qualified to carry a defensive weapon.</s>DAVIS: The TSA says the psychological testing is necessary to make sure pilots can pull the trigger if they have to. (on camera): Fewer than 200 pilots have been trained to carry guns since Congress OKed it eight months ago. Pilots say with the recent intelligence suggesting that al Qaeda could try hijackings again, the priority should be on getting guns into their hand before there's another incident. Patty Davis, CNN, Reagan National Airport.
Pilots Concerned About How Long It Takes to be Trained to Carry Firearms