Re: Security checks for crews are getting to the riduculous!
Personally, as SLF, I don't mind the checks at all.The more thorough the better. Possibly like most people, I think if I've been checked thoroughly, then so will the Bad Guys.But they're not that well thought out, of course. They would probably act as a preventative to only the most dim witted extremist who is totally lacking in imagination, given the loopholes here and there. So I well understand aircrew irritation in this area.I don't see the point in confiscating potential lethal weapons, such as nail scissors, from the flight crew -or the pax, come to think of it - actually,I'd rather the crew were armed, since they have executive control over the aircraft.
The Silkair (and similar) events are relevant to this discussion only as a demonstration of that fact.
Read a letter in Flight a few years ago: the author, an ANZ capt., had come to the conclusion that if a 911 style event started to occur on his aircraft, he'd flip the seat belt switch on, wait a few seconds, stuff the nose full down, then up, then down etc and hope that disabled the offenders, without too much "collateral damage". Seems a pretty good approach. I want him flying my aircraft, thanks. And I dont mind if he's carrying scissors.
A few years ago someone tried to hijack an ANZ aircraft on the ground in Fiji. Hijacker was disabled by a well aimed blow by the captain, who had armed himself with a bottle of Teacher's whiskey (duty free of course). I'm not sure if the bottle survived the encounter.But it became world famous in NZ.