Southwest pilot held with loaded gun at airport

Bloomberg

A Southwest Airlines Co. pilot was arrested after a loaded handgun was found in his carry-on bag while going through a security checkpoint at an upstate New York airport, federal officials said.
The first officer’s name wasn’t released in a statement issued Monday by the Transportation Security Administration. He was arrested on a weapons charge after an X-ray scanner at Albany International Airport found the .380-caliber handgun in the bag, reports said.
The pilot indicated that he wasn’t aware a weapon was in his carry-on bag, said Brandy King, a Southwest spokeswoman. The gun wasn’t part of a federal program that allows some pilots to have weapons in the cockpit, she said. The Dallas-based airline declined to release the pilot’s name. The Albany County sheriff, whose office arrested the pilot, wasn’t immediately available for comment.