As per one of our latest Flight Crew Notices:
PRE-FLIGHT SECURITY SEARCH
ACTION
As part of increased security measures, each Cabin Crew member is now required to check six lifejackets each prior to every departure. The SCCM will then complete and sign a Security Declaration which will be passed to the Captain for countersignature. The form should be handed to the Dispatcher for retention for a period of not less than 24 hours after flight departure.
Stocks of the Security Declaration form are held in crew rooms and SCCMs will ensure that this form is included in the pre-flight paperwork.
BACKGROUND
The Department for Transport has issued a new Security Directive to incorporate additional security checks on life-jackets stowed underneath passenger seats.
Now, other than the fact that some pax take it upon themselves to filch the occasional life-jacket, could somebody please explain to me the rationale behind this additional new search ?
After all, passengers joining an aircraft have been through a supposedly rigorous system of security checks, right ?!
Also, what with Disclosure Scotland, et al
, all the staff who work airside, e.g. engineers, aircraft cleaners, caterers, etc, are supposedly ‘security vetted’ and, similar to the passengers, these staff also have to pass through a supposedly rigorous system of ‘security’, right ?!
So, reading between the lines, are we to understand that there are holes in the security ‘ring-of-steel’ – or how else might things be carried aboard to be stashed within an under-your-seat life-jacket pocket ?
Yep, God forbid that somebody might secret a pair of tweezers or maybe some of those lethal finger-nail clippers inside said life-jacket !
So, is this yet another ill conceived farce from the Uk DfT ? Or, there again, maybe they're just trying to protect us from those sneaky journalists ?!
