Pilot caught with plotting instruments in flight bag
At MAN last week, an FO in uniform and displaying a valid Security Pass was stopped and held for 10 minutes while the geniuses from Security debated the safety of the situation.
He was eventually released, still carrying compasses and dividers, to operate an ETOPS transatlantic flight.
Can the security world please use their common sense and intelligence to stop this sort of nonsense? Either the guy's ID was valid as checked, or not. In the event that he was sent through to the X-ray machine, he should have been ok to carry tools of the trade, nail scissors, a bottle opener, a screwdriver, or box cutters. After all, the pilot would end up seated only feet away from a "deadly" fire axe, and at the controls of an even "deadlier" 250-ton aircraft loaded with flammable Jet fuel.
Different and practical rules should apply for pilots, as opposed to passengers and maybe cabin crew, as they are already granted the full responsibility for safe operation of the flight.
(I am not diminishing the cabin crew's role here)