I am a captain for a large regional airline. I am allowed to carry only my company pilots or pilots that work for the major airline we codeshare with in the actual jumpseat. Other carriers pilots are welcome to sit in the back if there is a seat available. The resaon, I am told, that this is the case is for security reasons. Apparently on 9-11 one of the hijackers was diguised as a jumpseater with a fraudulent airline ID. To prevent that from happening again we must be able to verify the pilots employment in our computer system. My question is why we can continue to allow FAA inspectors to ride in the jumpseat? My company gate agents cannot, to my knowledge, verify the employment of a FED in our computer system. We all know how cheesy a FED's ID is and how easily it can be duplicated. By the very act of allowing a FAA inspector in my jumpseat am I not in violation of current FAR's? Going beyond that, am I not putting the entire plane and people on the ground in grave risk by allowing that FED in the actual jumpseat?
Any thoughts on this??
Any thoughts on this??