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.