Re: Security checks for crews are getting to the riduculous!
Kaptin M got it right. QUOTE:
........is best summed up by stating that a lot of the time, effort, and money directed to checking whether the cockpit crew are carrying nail clippers, or Swiss Army knives, would be far better spent on checking the more likely areas terrorists can easily penetrate....checked baggage, galley supplies, cleaning equipment, refuellers - the list of people, and things, that are permitted airside access with a more or less cursory check. UNQUOTE
So many items in airport shops are sealed at the factory and cannot be penetrated by x-ray - anything in a tin, for example, so the opportunities for "feeding" similar objects into the system containing weapons to retrieve after the security checks are much more appealing even to dumb would-be hijackers.
I think the more serious problem of security checks is that many airports now require trouser (or pants) belts to be removed. The sight of manly beer bellies flobbing along outside the confines of a tight belt is too much to contemplate. How long will it be before human rights groups start campaigning for separate Male and Female security checks, including flight crew?