USAir Pilot Arrest - The Gestapo Tactics

[MAK]

For all of those wondering what, if anything, ALPA is doing to support Captain Menear (US Airways), just go to www.alpa.org and see if you can find anything (I couldn't).

I'm afraid there's only ONE thing ALPA understands anymore... your dues check-off.

 

[avbug]

If you want to enforce the rules about protocol and security measures, go right ahead. However, the security company employs supervisors to do that. If you have an issue with what is done, perhaps passing through security isn't the place to voice it. Take it to a supervisor. Get with your union, MEC. Do something if you like, but do it intelligently.

One is not going to change the system by making wisecracks to the folks in the terminal. Don't try to do their job for them. They probably won't follow you to a weather terminal and ask if perhaps you shouldn't review the winds aloft, one more time.

I realize that folks are far too high and mighty to be forced to suffer removal of shoes, or perhaps a belt buckle. Lesser folks like passengers should endure these harsh and painful measures, but not pilots. After all, we're far above it, aren't we? Closer to diety, perhaps?

I never worked in corrections, but was on occasion called to assist in prisoner transports. When taking a prisoner to the state pen, we went through the usual screening, along with the prisoner. However, the greater measure of scrutiny was given to the law enforcement officers, and our vehicle. Mirrors placed beneath, the engine compartment examined closely; everything. The first time that happened, I asked why as uniformed, badged, and credentialed representatives of a known agency, we were being given the fifth degree.

The detail officer advised me that in the facility, the lions share of contraband entered the prison via law enforcement officers. At a hundred dollars a pack for cigarettes, and an obscene price for other items, officers felt they were doing little harm. However, murders were committed in there and paid for with a case or two of cigarettes, and crime was based on that black market currency. The point being that the one class of folks passing security who should have been the most trustworthy, were under the greatest scrutiny (and in that case, for good reason).

If you want to change the world, have at it. However, you can work smart, or work stupid. Going through channels to get a change accomplished, or to voice an opinion, is working intelligently. Making brash comments which have been placarded as inappropriate for the past forty years, is working stupidly.

Someone said it's unamerican to say nothing. I hope that doesn't mean we must be stupid to be americans. Hardly. In this case, it just makes for an unemployed american.

As for removing belts; one cannot determine if a weapon is beneath the belt, until it's clear. If wanded after the buckle is clear, and no tone is heard, there's nothing ferrous there. Simple and efficient.

Shoes pass at a level beneath the field in many detector units, and are most likely to pass an object through a detector. Removal of the shoes does two things; it shows the most accessible area of the footware if contraband is hidden, and it also exposes the ankle area, a common source for a rapidly accessible concealed weapon.

Are we so high and mighty, and so filled with prestige, that we are injured and hurt by being required to undergo the same measures that every other soul who enters onto the airplane must endure? I don't think so. Passengers are people, we're people. Who is more important? Nobody. We're all the same.

Passengers pay to fly, we get paid to fly them. Our ultimate employer is the passenger; the passenger is the stakeholder on each separate flight. Is it such a big deal that the passengers are comforted by knowing that everyone coming through the SIDA perimeter, in their view, is checked and made secure? If it enhances a feeling of well-being among the passengers, the most important people to enter the terminal area, then the effort is well worth it. Far beyond the immediate security concerns is the ability to make people feel safe, and comfortable with air travel.

We've spent decades, and billions of dollars to convince the flying public that air travel is safe, efficient, comfortable. This one small step is another part of that effort. Perhaps no captain or first officer intends to hijack his or her own airplane. So what? If the public is made to feel more at ease seeing security measures in place, so much the better. Small price to pay to sell your airline and keep your job.

Don't sweat the small stuff. Keep quiet, act professional, pass through security discreetly and quietly, and set an example for the passengers (who ARE watching you). Good luck!!

 

[likeitis]

"Is it such a big deal that the passengers are comforted by knowing that everyone coming through the SIDA perimeter, in their view, is checked and made secure"?

Well that's the problem, flight crewmembers are the only people who work in the SIDA who have to go through security. Funny because we have had the most complete background checks.

 

[avbug]

Formerly that may have been the case. No longer.

The "security checks' that we undergo are not truly security checks or background checks. If you ever have a real background check, you'll understand that, because there are NO secrets.

Sending a letter to former employers once, for PRIA purposes, and having the office secretary perform a quickie check on things she can verify, isn't a background check. Neither is a fast III or NCIC printout. Nor is a quick NDR check. Neither is a quick credit check. These things prove nothing, and only provide cursory information about the person you've been.

Bear in mind that regardles of the type of check, security clearances are perishable. True clearances require constant reverification, and typically a true background check will have 100-200 pages of paperwork to fill out just to get started, and may take months.

"We" don't have remotely close to "the most complete background checks." Let's not kid ourselves.

 

[Bluto]

Avbug,
I agree with you on this one. There are many things a person could say that are true but imprudent. Many people on this board have said that the only difference between themselves and this individual is that he said what everyone else was only thinking. Well, why didn't you folks all speak your minds? Wasn't it true? Of course. But it was obviously foolish. Now, I don't know if it's truly a criminal act, however in this time of increased security sensitivity it is definitely unprofessional. Additonally, I do not feel that airport security is currently sufficient. The way to make changes, as Avbug stated, is to be proactive and take the appropriate, professional action. Not by making inappropriate comments to poorly trained, poorly educated individuals with no power to change anything.

 

[Dude Groovy]

Avbug,
I have read some of your posts in the past and have generally agreed. But, I believe you are wrong on this one. Generally I agree that silence is golden and that this pilot could have avoided trouble by saying nothing. But why should he? Maybe we should have just kept silent when the British thought to tax the colonies without representation or when the southern states said it was their states right to keep slaves. Silence is not always the answer. Prudence? Was it prudent to provoke a military power vastly stronger in the Revolution? Some things are worth fighting for. I for one support this U.S. Airways captain and his right to speak.

 

[likeitis]

"We" don't have remotely close to "the most complete background checks." Let's not kid ourselves.

So what you are saying is Joe I pump fuel has a more comprehensive background check than the pilots. Let's not kid ourselves. Tell me who in the airline business has a more comprehensive background check than pilots. I guarantee the number of people losing their jobs when these new FBI checks go through will be lowest amongst pilots vs. any other employee group. Read into it what you want.

 

[waka]

Dude Groovy,

This incident is in no way analogous to emancipation or the American revolution. This is not a free speech issue. The pilot had no right to say what he did in this situation as someone has no right to yell "fire" in a crowded theater. The pilot could have written letters, picketed, organized a protest etc... with his message and he would not be arrested or risked losing his job. He used bad judgement and now he will face the cosequences. Personally, I hope they just slap his wrist. However, that is NOT to say that he acted appropriately.

 

[Stinger6]

relax the security

No one yet has come out and said that the security screenings in and of themselves are bogus. You're all griping about the lack of security and the differences between crews and passengers.

Do you mean we need even more restrictions to board?

Tighter security, in my mind, means the state department should have been doing its job to begin with instead of rubber stamping visa applications. Norm Mineta has got us playing catch up to something that hasn't been a threat in years, and even in light of the horrible events, still is a non starter.

You can't prevent terrorism. Period, dot. Super security and massive retaliation hasn't done much for Israel. And no matter how good the security point is, the next target is likely going to be non-aviation related. Pretty sad...

 

[ifly4food]

Dude Groovy,

This incident is in no way analogous to emancipation or the American revolution. This is not a free speech issue. The pilot had no right to say what he did in this situation as someone has no right to yell "fire" in a crowded theater. The pilot could have written letters, picketed, organized a protest etc... with his message and he would not be arrested or risked losing his job. He used bad judgement and now he will face the cosequences. Personally, I hope they just slap his wrist. However, that is NOT to say that he acted appropriately.

This is very much a free speech issue. How many doctors, bankers, and other professionals are forced to strip down, have their personal property confiscated, and now have their speech restricted just to go to work? Not too many.

A person does have the "right" to yell fire in a theater. It is a stupid thing to do, but tell me what Federal law it violates. That is a tired analogy.

Writing letters and picketing would have been ignored... just like all of our and our union's complaints so far. Maybe this pilot will do some good (in spite of himself) by bringing this issue to a head in the only way possible... to become a martyr.