</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">On the subject of Boston security in particular. I was horrified to see that airline ground staff do not go through security at all when going to the aircraft. They have a gate from their office straight out onto the tarmac. We flight crew are subjected to all manner of search, and they walk straight out and join the passengers again on the other side. When challenged, I was told that as they were airline employees, they were above suspicion and did not need to be checked. I pointed out that so was I as a pilot of the plane, but was told that that was different. Absolutely amazing! No wonder they picked Boston on Sep 11 </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">It is this way at a large majority of US airports. In fact, on 9/11, my first thought was that the hijackers had accomplices on the ground smuggle weapons aboard. I am still not 100% convinced that all of the weapons actually were carried through security. . .. .The ground ops folks are "trusted employees" (according to my employer!) so are not subject to the idiotic harassment that we unwashed flight crew types are. They actually go through backround checks, I was told by a gate agent last week. That's the reason that they aren't subject to screening. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Roll Eyes]" src="rolleyes.gif" /> I didn't even try to explain that my personal history was dug into a bit deeper than his ever will be in order to be employed as a pilot.. .. .So far, in the mass "security" hysteria that has hit the US since 9/11, I have been threatened with arrest TWICE by the same gate agent in my domicile. I was THINKING of breaching security by walking on the ramp about 150 feet to the crew lounge from the jet that I had been flying all day (he SAW me park it at the gate. I guess that it never occurred to him that if I was hell bent on committing a nefarious act, that I could have done it during the time I was actually flying the plane!). I do not have a SIDA badge for reasons described below. Usually, the F.O.'s have them and can "escort" me on the ramp to and from the lounge. In these 2 instances, I was with newer F.O.s who did not have the cute, pink, but all important badge. The crew lounge door is ON the ramp. We are allowed, without a SIDA badge to go up the jetway, walk through the terminal, and down a set of stairs to the edge of the "secure" ramp and into the lounge. . .. .The SIDA badge is very important, so much so that it takes a special course of instruction to get it. So far, I have not been able to get one, as I refuse to drive 6 hours roundtrip on my day off to get it. The course is only given when the moon is in the third house, and venus is aligned with jupiter. It consists of a 45 minute video, describing the horrors of lax security. After viewing the tape and signing about 5 forms, accepting all responsibility for any future hijackings or security breaches, you are now given the coveted sida badge. As a "trusted" ground ops type (rampers etc) it is actually worth something, as it allows them to bypass all security (their bags are could be searched, if someone thinks to do it.) and access the ramp through the back door. As pilots, we get the exact same badge, only we are NOT allowed to access the ramp through the "trusted" employees door, because we are stars in "The Greatest Security Show on EARTH!", and the show must go on! The ONLY thing a SIDA badge gets a pilot is the ability to walk from his jet to the crew lounge on the ramp. Not worth 8 hours of my OFF time.. .. .The punch line to this entire story is that, prior to 1988 or so, pilots WERE "trusted" employees, and were not subject to security (thank the Lord that THAT "loophole" is now closed!). As a result of a horrible incident in 1987, in which a GROUND OPS type smuggled a .44 magnum on board a PSA BAE 146, and killed the pilots, PILOTS were thereafter subject to "security" screening. Ground ops folks weren't and still aren't. . .. .It is all eyewash. If the powers that be were actually concerned about security and aircraft safety, we would have verifiable ID's, carriage of armed, non federal LEOs would be SEVERELY curtailed, profiling would be part of the picture, pilots would be voluntarily trained and armed, we'd have secure cockpit doors etc etc etc. . .. .What do we have instead? Little kids, pilots and old ladies are "randomly" selected and have to remove their shoes at the gate, AFTER they've already cleared security, bag matching (works well with suicidal hijackers that have no baggage), future new hires in F'Teens escorting us just in case of radio problems, highly paid, illiterate federal workers with way more power than brains, scarecrows with unloaded weapons standing around the "security" checkpoints (just in case Al Quaida decides to hijack them) etc..... . .. .I feel much better.