Originally Posted by Capt Claret
If the quote is an endorsement of the increased security regime, then I'd say cobblers to that!
If one looney trying to set his foot bomb alight is reason to cause so much inconvenience and chaos at airports, then we should go the whole hog.
Capt Claret
With the greatest respect, this wasn't just a lone looney. His mate got cold feet - have a look at:
'
Reluctant shoe-bomb plotter jailed
A would-be British suicide bomber was jailed for 13 years Friday for plotting to blow up a US-bound passenger plane in mid-air in tandem with jailed "shoe bomber" Richard Reid.
Saajid Badat, 25, who pleaded guilty in February, decided not to go ahead with the plot, which would have seen him blow up a plane simultaneously with Reid in December 2001.
Instead he kept the dismantled device at his home in St James, Gloucester, in the west of England, where pieces were found in a police raid. ...'
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems...4/s1352003.htm
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/eu...bomb.sentence/
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...505707,00.html
And then there was this:
'Four al Qaeda operatives were supposed to hijack an airliner, seize the controls and ram the aircraft into the tallest building on the West Coast -- the U.S. Bank Tower, formerly known as the Library Tower. The weapons used were to have been explosives the operatives concealed in their shoes, which supposedly would have aided them in blowing off the cockpit doors.'
http://www.stratfor.com/products/pre...89&countryId=1
I understand your gripe, especially having pilots screened - and believe me I don't enjoy playing footsie with the guards anymore than you do - but the problem is if you start making exceptions, where do you stop? The baddies have the intent and the know-how - I heard a security brief a while back that darn near knocked my socks off - and I'd much rather go through a bit of a hassle on the ground than go to bits at FL340. My gripe is if they don't do everybody over equally - eg ground staff with airside access - and keep their minds on the job 100% of the time.
Cheers
PS: Sorry to hijack the point of your thread, showerofsparks. And for the bad punning.