ozbiggles wins the award for the dopiest post tonight!
In no particular order.....Bob Hawke 'trained as a pilot' too but that doesn't make him one. In the context of this discussion the fact that the Sep 11 hijackers 'trained as pilots' is as relevant as my wife training in child care when it comes to the death of a child at a childcare facility somewhere else in Australia. Precisely zero.
I'm sure that any self respecting terrorist could probably get an ASIC and probably get a uniform of some description so I don't think any of us are getting out of shape with the general philosophy behind screening. I think the point of most thinking pilots has always been about two things.
1. The inconsistency of the policy as it applies to those that have access to the aircraft...as others have pointed out John Borghetti's statement about all staff enduring screening is a gross distortion of the reality.
2. The manner in which the screening is carried out is often inappropriate with little recourse available to the individual crew member.
Wash context: I've walked a mile in their shoes. I was a security screener some years ago- pre Sept 11. I know the job and I know the challenges. It's a crappy, mind numbing, thankless job. Sometimes the crew are great, sometimes they're dills. At the end of the day though screening is just aspect of aviation security and the sooner we acknowledge this publicly and do something serious instead of this b/s
PR exercise that we currently call 'aviation security' the better off we'll all be!