If you are allowed in a cockpit, you are a trusted agent, in uniform or out. I was brand new to the airline biz just after 9/11, and I was, and continue to be, amazed that pilots are treated the way they are. How did this ever get started? While the PSA crash is a factor, it is one data point from nearly 30 years ago.
I have written letters to congressman, my airline security and the TSA. All letters are answered in the vein of, yes you are right, yes it makes no sense, we really should do something about it.
My airline security department wrote a letter to the pilots saying not to abuse KCM because it was a privilege. I was dumbstruck by that statement. It is better security to know WHO we are getting into the cockpit, not what is in our bag which is irrelevant. But that shows the mentality of security personnel. Think of all the abuses that SIDA card holders have committed, yet SIDA is not going anywhere. Why?
The TSA also has the mentality that safe terminals mean safe aircraft. I have had a great time over the years asking why I can't have a pocket knife in the terminal but I can lock myself in the cockpit with an axe. Its even more fun when they come on board and I show them the axe and they shrug their shoulders and walk off.
I am a big proponent of aircraft security, unfortunately the last 13 years has engendered an adversarial relationship between pilots and the TSA. Virtually everyone I work with has a story of the ridiculousness in being harassed by TSA employees for some broken rule or other. Meanwhile, a gate agent with bad intentions can print out a boarding pass and bypass security and bring anything on board that they want. (I ask about this scenario at recurrent and my security department say that it won't happen and if it did the gate agent would be in violation of TSA regulation and be subject to a fine. I retort, I wish that rule were on the books on 9/11 and that's when I go back to solving 22 across).
Happy Holidays fellows, at least there are incremental changes in the KCM program for the better.
I have written letters to congressman, my airline security and the TSA. All letters are answered in the vein of, yes you are right, yes it makes no sense, we really should do something about it.
My airline security department wrote a letter to the pilots saying not to abuse KCM because it was a privilege. I was dumbstruck by that statement. It is better security to know WHO we are getting into the cockpit, not what is in our bag which is irrelevant. But that shows the mentality of security personnel. Think of all the abuses that SIDA card holders have committed, yet SIDA is not going anywhere. Why?
The TSA also has the mentality that safe terminals mean safe aircraft. I have had a great time over the years asking why I can't have a pocket knife in the terminal but I can lock myself in the cockpit with an axe. Its even more fun when they come on board and I show them the axe and they shrug their shoulders and walk off.
I am a big proponent of aircraft security, unfortunately the last 13 years has engendered an adversarial relationship between pilots and the TSA. Virtually everyone I work with has a story of the ridiculousness in being harassed by TSA employees for some broken rule or other. Meanwhile, a gate agent with bad intentions can print out a boarding pass and bypass security and bring anything on board that they want. (I ask about this scenario at recurrent and my security department say that it won't happen and if it did the gate agent would be in violation of TSA regulation and be subject to a fine. I retort, I wish that rule were on the books on 9/11 and that's when I go back to solving 22 across).
Happy Holidays fellows, at least there are incremental changes in the KCM program for the better.
