The inescapable point is that the 'turned' pilot does not need to secret anything on board with him...he has no need to convince anyone to open the door to gain access to the cockpit by slashing throats...he has no need to secret bomb making materials on board...why would he bother secreting similar items to another individual?
I don't accept the 'pilots family held hostage' theory either...if they are nasty enough to hijack an aircraft and kill several hundred or thousand innocents does anyone seriously think they would release your family to identify them after you have helped them?
Baggage being broken into and items stolen is common...how hard would it be to put an explosive device into someones baggage set to a timer?
I have sat in the crew bus at the gate of the crew/airside workers screening points at LHR watching vehicles not being checked thoroughly...lets face it how do you thoroughly check a truck full of catering/aircraft spares or sundry 100s of other items that are needed daily airside to keep the aircraft flying?
It is rather hillarious though to watch the security staff walk around the truck rather like we do when doing a walk around and then pour the drivers coffee on the ground and confiscate his lunch while he is sending his shoes through the xray before allowing him to continue on his way.
Gives me a warm feeling knowing how much safer I am as a result of that. How much semtex can be hidden inside a spare tyre?
The threat is not the pax so much and it definately isn't the aircrew...but I can accept that a layered defence necesitates pax screening...aircrew screening at the airport cannot achieve what is desired better than background checks done by Intelligence/Aviation authorities and employers contributing to a workplace database system.
The biggest security threat is that an airport like Sydney or Heathrow is
INDEFENSEABLE. The only way to guarantee nothing will be secreted on board an aircraft is to close the facility down and build a housing estate on it.
Airport authorities/owners, Catering companies,
SECURITY companies etc all use min wage workers who more often than not come from the very ethnic/religous backgrounds that are giving us our current drama....individuals that one would suspect have far more exposure to being programed with the desire to do 'the west' harm...and a few have already been caught.
Spend the money where it will have a chance of making a difference. As it stands airport departure terminal security is mostly poiltical smoke and mirrors.