Metal detector etiquette

[spinfreezone]

That doesn't ebb and flow well with your Ben Frankie quote

I have to agree there is a wee bit of irony there.

 

[starvingcfi]

bumping the inside walls of the detector is a big one for me. guess i just get clumsy around tsa.

 

[colorado418]

I walked through in PBI the other night and did what I always do, I put one hand in front of my body and one behind me to avoid brushing the sides of the machine which in my experience has set it off. The lady tells me to get wanded. I asked her why, since I had not beeped. She told me I tried to pull the old pilots trick... What that is, I still do not know cause she would not tell me. I then had to be wanded and of course undo my belt cause my belt buckle beeped.

It took a bit of restraint to keep from telling them that they had not filled their old job at Mc. D's...

 

[sky37d]

The comments about passengers is extremely appropriate, I think. I read in USA Today, about some guy who was misbehaving, the passengers sat on him, and he suffocated to death. That was a while ago. Recently, there was another guy giving everyone grief, and they tackled him and kept him down. He is also dead.

So, I think that if someone tried to hijack another plane, they would not be able to get away with it.

 

[WrightAvia]

I hear up there at that place where they de-bone chickens, they don't mind if you come to work with a knife.

 

[enigma]

quote:
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That doesn't ebb and flow well with your Ben Frankie quote
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I have to agree there is a wee bit of irony there.

If the worst slip up I ever make is to be found a wee bit ironic, I'll be happy.

However, I don't see a real conflict. My Ben Franklin quote is an ideal. It states what I would like to see in a perfect world. My statement about profiling accounts for reality, and the reality is that the government IS screening. Considering that screening will happen, I think that we should profile.

regards,
enigma

 

[TA/RA]

Security?

The TSA is pathetic.

The government pukes that came up with this don't seem to understand that if we had this security on 9/11/2001, it wouldn't have affected the outcome at all. The terrorists didn't gain flight crew cooperation with a boxcutter anyway.

Give the jerk a boxcutter. I'll put a couple of cokes in a blanket and beat him to death with it. Boxcutter?, heck I walk right on with an umbrella, and a 3 d-cell maglight in my flightbag. Better yet, let's issue boxcutters with their tickets. If it's a fight with three terrorists vs one hundred pax, I'll put my money on the pax every time.

The TSA is a pathetic waste of tax dollars that contributes nothing whatsoever to flight safety. Of course judging by the quality of employees they seem to keep (not all but most), it probably is helping out the unemployment rate. Maybe that's what the TSA's purpose is anyway. The thing that really pisses me off is that with the state of this industry, and regional contracts being what they are, those morons make more than I do. Looking at the expression on most of their faces, they probably don't have the sense to find their own way to work, and have to get somebody to tie their shoes for them every morning.

Sorry, I had to vent. Too many CDO's.

 

[e=mc2]

Never make eye contact, never respond to their
questions. If talking to them is required, I always start with "didn't you used to work at the McDonald's on main street?"
They get the point fast and there is not one thing they can do.
You do have to keep the grin to yourself.

When they they go "sir your shoes" I respond with "yes they are nice and comfortable, thank you" and walk on.

 

[siedkick]

Super 80, I feel your pain.

As for myself, when on duty and in uniform, I never publicly remove any item except that which is specifically required by TSA regulation (not to be confused with a particular station's/screener's whim of the day). Occasionally the metal detector alarms considering all the metal on my uniform (wings, emblems, name tag, ID badge and clip, belt buckle, shoes, etc.). When this happens I request that the secondary screening be done in private. Any area that is free from public view and has a chair to sit on while I remove my shoes is acceptable (toilet seats don't count).

My reason for doing this is simple. I don't like the message being sent to my passengers that says hey, we don't know whether or not this guy's a terrorist so we'll have to frisk him for weapons. Then, a few minutes later, this suspected terrorist is in the driver's seat of the airplane they're about to board (no weapons needed).

The private screening usually adds another five minutes or so to the five minutes I've already spent making my way up to and through the metal detector. Occasionally I'm asked by the screener why I want a private screening. A reason is not required, but I usually say that I don't like being treated like a terrorist in front of my passengers. My demeanor is always professional and polite. Theirs can range full scale. If they're way out of line, I request a supervisor. Beyond that, requesting names and ID numbers gets everyone's attention. At the other end of the scale, I've had some very interesting conversations with some of these people. No, they didn't all come from McDonald's, and some of the information that they've shared with me about TSA and about security has at times been enlightening. It's amazing how much some of these people can change when not standing in the limelight in front of their follow employees, their supervisor, a LEO, and the constant flow of passengers.

 

[TonyC]

Little victories

Remember the lessons of POW training: little victories.

You know, I had completely forgotten where I learned that behavior. Seems pretty incredible, now, looking back, to think those few long weeks had such a profound and far-reaching impact on my life.

Thanks for refreshing the memory.