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...as British Pilot Sues Tsa Over Training Ban...

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Philso

Active member
Joined
Aug 1, 2004
Posts
28
From AVWeb...

"A British pilot, who works for an American regional airline, is suing the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to find out why they deem him a "threat to aviation or national security." Robert Gray says the agencies have refused (on security grounds, of course) to tell him why he shouldn't be allowed to fly larger and more complex aircraft than those he's been flying for Cape Air, a regional airline that flies mostly to Massachusetts destinations (it also has operations in Florida, the Caribbean and Micronesia). He insists it's all a mistake but says security officials won't tell him what triggered his "threat" status so he can sort it out. They did, however, give him a copy of his U.S. Customs profile, which describes the Belfast-born Gray as "Hispanic." Last fall, Gray, who's been flying small commercial planes for Cape Air for eight years, got a job offer to fly bigger stuff for a charter company as long as he passed the security requirements. Since last October, the TSA has been conducting security reviews of all foreign pilots seeking upgrades to their privileges. When he was rejected, Gray appealed the decision but the TSA rejected the appeal. It also sent letters to his current employer and his prospective employer notifying them of the security denial. Cape Air spokeswoman Michelle Haynes said Gray "is a very qualified pilot and we're happy to have him in our Cape Air family."
>>

Yet another example of how stupid this TSA rule is. I had to laugh at the "Belfast-born Gray as Hispanic." line - I wonder what they have be classed as !!!!
 
I agree, just stupid, and i bet ask most TSA people where Belfast is and to them it might as well be on the moon.
 
there's something wrong with appealing the decision to the very organization that made the original decision. God forbid someone innocent end up on the wrong side of their "threat status list" by mistake, good luck getting it cleared up.

I like how he can still fly pax on a 121 airline, but they won't let him fly pax on a charter airplane. Rediculous.
 
Can't imagine what the TSA has in their background check, if they consider Mr. Gray a threat, why does he fly small planes? Now that Makes sense TSA, he is ok to fly a small plane but not a big plane!

The TSA is useless as far as I'm concerned. We are walking through the same metal detectors as we did prior to 911. But what is the delay and long lines for? Someone is too cheap to pay for more workers, most of them old ladies that can barely move fast enough to get you through the lines at the airport. It's disgraceful what has happened to our airports.

There is always the slight possibiliy that someone in Mr. Gray's family had ties with the wrong people coming from Belfast. Who's knows. The whole thing sounds like a farce. Someone needs to fire all those lousy TSA workers.
 
that is just very sad , come to america chasing the american dream and wonder if it was just a mirage.
 
freemind270 said:
that is just very sad , come to america chasing the american dream and wonder if it was just a mirage.
1,500 a car to pay healthcare costs for GM workers...where's the mirage? Between liability lawsuits, the costs of healthcare and the FDA, we're doomed.
 
As a flight school owner and permanent resident pilot i can assure you that "we did it 'cos we can " attitude is hurting us big time. Just to give us few examples :

- TSA didn't tell us what to do for the application process. They didn't provide screenshots of the students' application process. Students asks "what am i supposed to put in here?" but I cannot answer him because i haven't seen the screens.

- Fingerprinting is still a confusion. The local police departments, sheriff department don't want to deal with the finger prints..

- I had a Polish guy show up 3 weeks ago. His eyes were glittering because of being in the USA , but the he couldn't believe the amount of paperwork involved.

- A japanese mechanical engineer who is working on 787 project was dumbfunded that he had to go through this. When i told him that i will take 3 weeks to do the paperwork, he bought $200 worth of books and walked away.

- An irish guy who works for a bank that finances Ryanair's airplanes was turned down because of the similar reasons. That was going to be extra $$$ too..

....................

I can keep going with the examples. I think we are suffering from an incompetent government that is trying to create excuses for not doin their work before 9/11 by giving visas to people in the CIA's watch list.

As a flight school owner, I don't know why I should suffer from that..

Just $.02
 
FlyingToIST said:
I think we are suffering from an incompetent government that is trying to create excuses for not doin their work before 9/11 by giving visas to people in the CIA's watch list.

It is about giving the public a warm and fuzzy feeling that they are now doing something about it now. They have to be seen doing something, it may not be the best course of action but it is at least a course of action.

I personally have been fingerprinted twice in the last 3 years by the INS or whatever they are called these days. Now the last I checked, the renamed INS was part of the DHS, as is the TSA. So basically one government office does not trust the other government office.

The reason for two sets of fingerprints in 3 years, typical gov, your fingerprints 'expire' after 24 months. Yeah right.
 
Maybe I shouldn't comment... I know Robert Gray. He sounds like Sean Connory and looks like Conan O'Bryan. Anybody who put "hispanic" on his profile didn't do a very thorough investigation.

Probably a case of similar name as someone else. Which isn't hard with a first name of "Robert" and a last name of "Gray".

I hope he wins and gets millions in damages. Unfortunately not likely. We (the voters) have given the TSA unlimited power without review and now we reap the rewards.
 

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