Comair Pilot arrested in PA

[Caveman]

Maybe our security screener can explain the logic of checking crew ID's during a quickturn. The people checking our ID's just watched us land and taxi the a/c to the gate. As they are handing us our release they verify our ID's. WTFO?!?

 

[dsee8driver]

Window dressing....

I don't feel any safer now then back pre 9/11, but I bet you passengers are not gona let Muhammed Ragtop rush the cockpit.

 

[Huck]

If it happens, the next attempted hijacking will likely be on a cargo heavy jet where the pilots were exempted from the new "armed pilot" law. Maybe I'll get to the crash axe in time....

 

[Timebuilder]

(Glances at previous poster's avatar)

Uh.....is that airline based in Memphis?

 

[Rick1128]

The Sky Marshall bit has happened. MIA screeners ripped a SM a new a$$hole over his nailclipers while handing back his Glock, MP5 and flack jacket. Then they arrested the Captain of the flight for laughing about the absurdity of the whole event.

What is TSA going to do when pilots show up at screening with federally authorized firearms? This is going to be interesting.

Many has been the time, well before 9/11, that my flightcase has been literally dumped out because the screener couldn't recognize a ringbinder. Holding of all things a company/FAA required manual.

While the terminals are as crazy as always, the general aviation side is getting to that point. I had one trip where my passengers were not allowed to bring their shotguns. They were going on a hunting trip and these guns were cased. The best one so far is BOS where my medical crew was not allowed through screening at the GA terminal with their equipment. Scissors, needles, etc. They had gone to the hospital and on return with our passenger had to get out of the ambulance and be screened. Both of these events took a lot of effort to resolve. Sometimes it is hard to believe that people in Washington live on the same planet as we do.

 

[Timebuilder]

Not only do you have main terminal style screening at Signature/BOS, but you have a Mass State trooper holding up the wall near the x-ray machine. Cost? Who knows?

I'm not saying that the Massport people don't have reason to be especially reactionary, given the focus on Boston regarding 9-11, but it's as if they are saying that this particular lightening is more likely to strike there, as opposed to say, at Atlantic/TEB.

It's like an absurd play.

 

[FlyToVegas]

tsa

And to think for all this "security" passengers are being changed $10 extra per flight!

If the TSA is allowed to continue, I can see them bringing down the airline industry.

 

[ifly4food]

I would like to make a short explanation for the two above incidents from where I see it. After I was furloughed I worked as an instructor for the federal airport screeners. So I have seen it from a pilots perspective as well as a screener perspective.

The first incident is no different than if a policeman asked if you had a weapon in your car. You say no and the cop searches your car and finds one. That is called concealment and believe it or not being a "captain" will not get you out of it. Remember the rules do not change if you are a pilot.

As far as the standards (I think that is what you tried to spell) during my training I knew of four people that were furloughed airline pilots from major carriers that failed the test. So the standards are there.

Now the second incident. It use to be that all toy guns were prohibited, now GI Joe types are permitted. That screener just did not read his or her revisions, no excuses. Kind of sounded like a pilot?

The main thing to keep in mind is that TSA is a brand new organization and will take some time to iron out all the bugs. Like I said before I have seen it from both sides and used to be like everyone else. " This is bull$hit, this guy has a power trip," ect. were the words that came out of my mouth. We need to realize that these people are defending our jobs as airline pilots and we need to thank them more often...

...First of all it would have been easier to quote my entire response. Maybe you need to step into reality and realize that people do not give a $hit that you are a pilot, so the rules are not going to change. If they did then where would the line be drawn?

As far as common sense, I guess the other 21 pilots that passed the test in the class had no common sense. Whatever.

As far as the child's toy, that is an isolated incident that doesn't happen everyday.

As far as you saying "the public being tolerant" . I guarantee that the general public is satisfied with the job that is being done.

The file and nail clippers have been allowed for the last 8 months, so I do not know where you have been? [/B]

Note the highlighted selections.

Flyhard, I find your attitude extremely poor. There is no need to demean thes pilots who questioned your statement. I cite your decision to sarcastically put the word Captain in quotation marks as a prime example. Are you really demeaning this respectful title that so many pilots have EARNED through hard work and years of service?

I'm sorry you were furloughed and even more sorry that you had to cross over to the dark side by working as a screener. However, that does not entitle you take your frustrations toward the industry out on your fellow pilots.

Clearly you no longer work for the TSA since you spoke of such in the past tense. I'm glad to hear that.
In light of this, you do not represent the TSA and have no right to speak for them.

I stand with timebuilder and everyone else who voiced their frustration with the screening process. Everybody in the industry knows and accepts that it is nothing but fancy window dressing meant to give the perception of safety. This in turn makes people feel safe enough to buy airline tickets and pay our salaries. Only the general public is brainwashed (or naive ) enough to think that Al Qaida couldn't get past security tomorrow and do something if they really wanted to. Really, nothing has changed since 9/11/01. The terrorist groups know the profiles to avoid. Ground workers still aren't screened at most airports. It would be easy to get an operative through security to use a pre planted weapon. Let's not kid ourselves. Really, the only true security measure we have added is the new "bank vault" cockpit door and our loss of innocence . It's not the checkpoint.

This beings us to the understandable frustration crews feel for being subjected to the unecessary show we are put through in front of the passengers.

The only solution to this will be for us all to quit whining about it in cyberspace and to put some real pressure on our unions and elected representatives to push through the smart card ID system. Then we will be able to be identified at the checkpoint as LEOs now are and be able to proceed without hassle.

 

[KigAir]

If it happens, the next attempted hijacking will likely be on a cargo heavy jet where the pilots were exempted from the new "armed pilot" law. Maybe I'll get to the crash axe in time....

Errr, didn't this already happen on a FedEx flight back in the early 1990's?

 

[flyhard]

First of all I am not a screener and never was. I was under a government contract to train them.

As for ifly4food, I was a captain for over two years so don't tell me about hard work and "earning" things until you have held that title.

As for Timebuilder, when was the last time in an airport? You said "several" times. Wow several, that is a lot. Obviously you are an expert on just about everything with over 1700 posts. It is just not aviation or security.

I totally agree we need a universal id amoung pilots to make things easier. I am just stating the facts as they are now. I am a pilot and will always be a pilot. I just did this contract job to put food on the table in the mean time. I really don't need some punk to tell me about an attitude.

 

[MetroSheriff]

As for ifly4food, I was a captain for over two years so don't tell me about hard work and "earning" things until you have held that title.

As for Timebuilder, when was the last time in an airport? You said "several" times. Wow several, that is a lot.

I really don't need some punk to tell me about an attitude.

Ohhhhh.....you are a salty 'ol dog, huh?

 

[Doozer]

These days, common sense is an uncommon virtue.

 

[Typhoon1244]

As for ifly4food, I was a captain for over two years so don't tell me about hard work and "earning" things until you have held that title.

I don't know if ifly4food is a captain or not...although I think he is. In any case, he clearly has more respect for the title than you do...which is a shame since you were one for "over two years." Wow!

I really don't need some punk to tell me about an attitude.

Okay, what if someone who isn't a punk says you have a lousy attitude? It doesn' surprise me, though. I have not communicated with a single former-airline-pilot security official who didn't have a huge chip on their shoulder about pilots in general and captains in particular.

I wonder why that is...

 

[Timebuilder]

As for Timebuilder, when was the last time in an airport? You said "several" times. Wow several, that is a lot. Obviously you are an expert on just about everything with over 1700 posts. It is just not aviation or security.

Actually, one dose of this nonsense would have been enough for me. "Several times" is only the tip of a very large iceberg, and the time period is over the last eight months. I have been a pilot and a passenger since the mid sixties, but I have been thinking for my entire life. I seem to be getting better at thinking as I get older. I hope that means I am on a path of wisdom. The more I learn, the more I realize that I know so little.

As far as being an "expert", if schooling myself in several disciplines qualifies me as such, then so be it. I left journalism behind just a few years before I left broadcasting. Frankly, I have found flying to be a more enjoyable use of my time; something I should have pursued when I was ten, and that Tri-Pacer was a "new" airplane.

I guess I have over 1700 posts because that journalist organism has become a part of me, like a "Borg" has permanent implants. Instead of being compelled to assimilate, I am compelled to disseminate. That, and I enjoy the people here, the many kinds of pilots, the personalities, the attitudes. Some share my passion for flying, some share my passion for the constitution and freedom, and some share my passion for the savior. All in all, we have a lot to share, and this is one of the best places available to do that. The world has changed for us, and many formerly unconnected aspects of our society are now a part of the forces that will steer the aviation industry into the next century.

I guess that means we have a lot to talk about.

Here, we were talking about security. Most of the pilots here didn't like your tone. Maybe you feel you have good reason to be a little edgy, I don't know. So, you can throw me in with the group you call "punks", but realize this: I'm a punk that is almost old enough to be your father, and I've been up and down the street a couple of times. While I don't know you well enough to tell if you're a great guy, I can tell you that trying to defend a program of smoke and mirrors as being an effective tool against terrorism makes no sense to me, and it probably makes less sense to the many 121 pilots here.

And thanks, I will check the TSA website so I can print out my right to carry a nail file, so I won't have a problem the next time I go commercial to pick up a plane somewhere.

 

[flyhard]

Timebuilder I apologize. Put yourself in my shoes. Training people for seven weeks in a row, you tend to have some pride in what you do. I am not defending the stupidity but I am defending the screeeners that do their job by the book.

I will always be on the pilots side no matter what. Hopefully things will get better in the months to come.

 

[Timebuilder]

No problem.

I never have an issue with someone doing their job well. If the job being done is a dog-and-pony show, I get irritated.

I think most pilots resent being treated like a potential virus when they are instead a part of the body which has been attacked.

The trusted traveller card won't come a day too soon for me.

 

[d328pilot]

Anyone that thinks that the TSA or any other agency can keep weapons off of airplanes, is living in a fantasy land. It is an impossible task. Just ask a cop or corrections officer if they are able to keep weapons out of prisons. It is impossible to do that, and a prison is much more secure than an airport. Security will just be window dressing until they take it seriously. That will involve profiling people....Screening is still ineffective, it just cost a lot more. The fact that the TSA is larger than the coast guard makes me sick. That money could be much better spent in other "homeland security" projects. Screening rules should not be the same for everyone. As it has been stated thousands of times, i have a sharp lethal weapon next to my seat. Why cant i have a leatherman? It makes no sense. I laugh when grandma get searched every time, and 5 guys that fit the "current profile" do not get searched. How about in PIT, the commendant of West Point's attache got searched. That makes a lot of sense. I was waiting for them to make him take off his uniform insignia because they had sharp metal points on them...or al gore? as much as i dislike him, what a joke....i doubt he is a threat to national security....it is plain and simple....expensive windowdressing


TSA= thousands standing around

 

[Typhoon1244]

Thus far, I only have one serious complaint about the TSA: nine times out of ten, you can't get on the train to south employee parking at DFW because it's jam packed with TSA agents going on or off duty! (They also took away half of my favorite parking lot...but I guess they have to park somewhere.)

 

[Hawker rider]

"secret squirrel handshake"

I haven't laughed so hard in a while.

If you're really determined it isn't hard to get a social security number that isn't in your name that you were born with, the same with starting a credithistory or even getting credit cards in an 'alias'.
So unless profiling is allowed all of this isn't going to bring a satisfying solution.

Yes, the public might be satisfied but the problem wouldn't be solved. i think we can (and should have, by now) learn a lot from Israeli Airlines like ElAl they have been concerned with this for a little longer than us.
But then again, if the public thinks it's OK..........that's what it is mostly about right???

 

[Typhoon1244]

Hawker rider:

You really should paste a copy of your avatar on your company ID! I love it...